The bioenergy crop Sorghum bicolor is a relevant pollen source for honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Abundance and diversity of pollinating insects are decreasing. Intensification of agricultural bioenergy production is presumed to accelerate the decline of pollinators. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a promising bioenergy crop. Enhanced dual‐purpose type cultivars have been developed and te...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Global change biology. Bioenergy 2021-07, Vol.13 (7), p.1149-1161
Hauptverfasser: Siede, Reinhold, Eickhoff, Benedikt, Freyer, Christian, Windpassinger, Steffen, Büchler, Ralph
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Abundance and diversity of pollinating insects are decreasing. Intensification of agricultural bioenergy production is presumed to accelerate the decline of pollinators. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a promising bioenergy crop. Enhanced dual‐purpose type cultivars have been developed and tested for suitability for bioenergy cropping in Germany. Sorghum is assumed to be a nutritional resource for pollen‐collecting insects. To evaluate this assumption, we studied the foraging strategy of A. mellifera colonies, which were migrated to sorghum fields in Germany. The bee hives were equipped with bottom fixed pollen traps. The pollen loads of the colonies contained variable shares of sorghum pollen ranging between approx. 10% and 50% (weight/weight). Sorghum pollen occurred frequently in more than 50% of all pollen samples. Experimental mini colonies were placed in plots which were grown with two varieties of sorghum, phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia), maize (Zea mays) and a control plot without any vegetation. All plots were encased with flight tents. Significant effects of the crop were found for the productivity parameters brood rearing and pollen collection. The sorghum and maize variants performed significantly better than the controls but significantly poorer than phacelia (p 
ISSN:1757-1693
1757-1707
DOI:10.1111/gcbb.12835