Abstract:

In order to determine the optimum honeybee density and the location of beehives for nectarine pollination in greenhouse, the experiment was carried out in a nectarine greenhouse in Wan'an Town, Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province In 2019, with the Apis mellifera ligustica as the test bee variety and ‘nectarine 99-2’ as the test nectarine variety. The number of honeybee visiting-flower and fruit setting rate with different comb counts and beehive locations in greenhouse were investigated. The results showed that the number of honeybee visiting-flower from the colonies of 5 combs, 4 combs and 3 combs were 126, 56 and 47 honeybees, respectively. Compared with 3 combs colony, the fruit setting rates of nectarine pollinated by 4 combs and 5 combs colonies increased by 6.71% and 8.06%, respectively. The number of visiting-flower honeybee was positively correlated with the comb number in colony, and the linear equation was y=6.5944x-13.6778. The closer to the hive, the more bees visit the flowers, and the farther away from the hive, the fewer bees visit the flowers. This study showed that 4 combs colony was suitable for pollinate nectarines in an 860 m² greenhouse, and the hives should be placed in the middle of the greenhouse.

Key words: Apis mellifera ligustica, Prunus persica var. nectarina, comb number, beehive location, honeybees visiting-flowers, fruit setting rate, facility peaches, bee pollination