Bee pollination improves crop quality, shelf life and commercial value.
Klatt, Björn LU
; Holzschuh, Andrea
; Westphal, Catrin
; Clough, Yann
; Smit, Inga
; Pawelzik, Elke
and Tscharntke, Teja
(2014)
In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
281(1775).
- Abstract
- Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar-acid-ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life.... (More)
- Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar-acid-ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44 billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90 billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important determinant of fruit quality. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4225198
- author
- Klatt, Björn
LU
; Holzschuh, Andrea
; Westphal, Catrin
; Clough, Yann
; Smit, Inga
; Pawelzik, Elke
and Tscharntke, Teja
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
- volume
- 281
- issue
- 1775
- article number
- 20132440
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:24307669
- wos:000332380800008
- scopus:84897846344
- pmid:24307669
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2013.2440
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 64dc4844-3be0-4c96-8200-5a162dc515c3 (old id 4225198)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:28:10
- date last changed
- 2022-04-20 02:22:55
@article{64dc4844-3be0-4c96-8200-5a162dc515c3,
abstract = {{Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar-acid-ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44 billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90 billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important determinant of fruit quality.}},
author = {{Klatt, Björn and Holzschuh, Andrea and Westphal, Catrin and Clough, Yann and Smit, Inga and Pawelzik, Elke and Tscharntke, Teja}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1775}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Bee pollination improves crop quality, shelf life and commercial value.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2440}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2013.2440}},
volume = {{281}},
year = {{2014}},
}