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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (22): 134-140.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0083

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Evaluation of Visiting Behavior and Pollination Effect of Apis cerana cerana and Bombus terrestris on Forsythia suspensa

LI Xiaodong1(), WU Nan1, JIANG Tao1, LIU Ming1, WEN Chunxiu1, GUO Wenxiu2, WANG Yuan3, ZHANG Xiyue3, YU Yi2(), LIU Lingdi1,4()   

  1. 1 Cash Crop Research Institute of Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/ Hebei Medical Plant Engineering Technology Research Center, Shijiazhuang 050051
    2 Institute of Plant Protection, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan 250100
    3 Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Zibo, Shandong 255300
    4 State Key Laboratory for Quality Ensurance and Sustainable Use of Dao-di Herbs, Beijing 100700
  • Received:2025-02-11 Revised:2025-06-09 Online:2025-08-05 Published:2025-08-11

Abstract:

To screen suitable pollinating insects for Forsythia suspensa, the foraging behaviors and pollination effects of Bombus terrestris and Apis cerana cerana were observed and compared. In the F. suspensa field, test areas for B. terrestris, A. cerana cerana, and a control area were established. Pollination methods included self-pollination, wind pollination, and entomophily. During the flowering period of F. suspensa, flower branches were selected and tagged to mark the number of flowers. After fruit setting, the fruit setting rate was counted, and at the harvest stage, quantitative indicators such as fruit length, fruit width, fresh weight, and dry weight of F. suspensa fruits under different treatments were statistically analyzed. The results showed that there were significant differences in flower-visiting behaviors between A. cerana cerana and B. terrestris on F. suspensa. The single flower visiting time of A. cerana cerana is (9.77±0.16) s, the flower-visiting frequency is (9.18±0.32) min, visit flower interval time is (3.50±0.60) s, the peak periods for leaving the nest and returning to the nest are 10:00 am (322 individuals) and 14:00 pm (237 individuals), respectively; B. terrestris single flower visit time is (14.65±3.25) min, visit flower frequency is (4.28±0.25) min, visit flower interval time is (7.65±1.35) s, the peak periods for leaving the nest and returning to the nest are 10:00 am (32 individuals) and 14:00 pm (28 individuals). The fruit setting rate of F. suspensa had obvious difference under different pollination treatments, the highest fruit-setting rate was observed in the A. cerana cerana pollination group (79%). While no significant difference existed between the B. terrestris pollination group (58%) and the control group (50%), both groups exhibited significantly higher fruit-setting rates compared to wind pollination (17%) and self-pollination (2%) in F. suspensa. There are significant differences in fruit length, width, fresh weight and dry weight of F. suspensa under different pollination treatments, the agronomic traits of F. suspensa fruit after pollination by A.cerana cerana are significantly better than other treatments. The effective distance for A. cerana cerana to release is 180 m. A. cerana cerana is an excellent bee species for pollinating F. suspensa and has a better pollination effect on F. suspensa.

Key words: Forsythia suspensa, Apis cerana cerana, Bombus terrestris, flower visiting behavior, pollination effect