Effect Of Bee Pollination On The Seed Yield,Quality,and Market Value Of Oil Tree Peony

Bee pollination can significantly improve crop yield,quality and market value.P.ostii ‘Fengdan' is a new type of woody oil crop and is the main oil tree peony variety planted in China.The P.ostii ‘Fengdan' is a heterogeneous pollination crop with a very low self-sufficiency rate and requires pollinators to pollinate them.Especially in the large-scale commercial planting,the shortage of pollinators is the important reason affecting the yield and quality of P.ostii ‘Fengdan'.In this paper,A.mellifera were used to pollinate P.ostii ‘Fengdan' to observe the foraging behavior characteristics of A.mellifera on P.ostii ‘Fengdan',and to determine the effect of bee pollination on the development,yield,quality and market value of oil tree peony.The main research results are as follows:(1)A.mellifera exhibited short single visitations,long visitations to a single flower and repeated visits to flowers of P.ostii ‘Fengdan'.There were no significant differences in visiting time at the peony between the 2017 and 2018 results of A.mellifera.The number of flower visits of A.mellifera was significantly and positively yet weakly correlated with the number of stigma visits.The seed set of follicles pollinated by A.mellifera(70.02%±2.68%)was significantly higher than that resulting from wind pollination and self-pollination.The seed set of P.ostii ‘Fengdan' follicles in the A.mellifera pollination area(71.16%±2.22%)was significantly higher than that in the natural pollination field area and the control net room.(2)The young fruit of peony pollinated by A.mellifera develops was significantly faster than that of wind pollination and self-pollination.The length and diameter of follicles in A.mellifera pollination area was also significantly higher than that of follicles in the control net room,and the follicles mature length(46.48±0.66mm),diameter(16.36±0.27mm),development rate(91%±0.21%),number of seeds per fruit(27.10±3.92)and weight of seeds per fruit(7.81±3.92g)were also significantly higher than the control net room.(3)The number of seeds per fruit and the weight of seeds per fruit of A.mellifera pollination were significantly higher than that of wind pollination and self-pollination.The number of seeds per fruit,the weight of seeds per fruit,the number seeds of per plant,the weight of seeds per plant of A.mellifera pollination area were significantly higher than that in the natural pollination field area and the control net room.In 2017,the yield of P.ostii ‘Fengdan' pollinated by A.mellifera increased by 21.67% compared with the natural pollination field area.In 2018,the yield of P.ostii ‘Fengdan' pollinated by A.mellifera increased by 469.15% compared with the natural pollination field area.(4)The oil yield of A.mellifera pollination was significantly higher than that of the control net room and the natural pollination field area;The content of unsaturated fatty acids pollinated by A.mellifera was not significantly different from that in the natural pollination field area.In the 2017,A.mellifera pollination contributed 16,900 yuan to the annual output value of peony seeds per hectare,contributing 251,100 yuan to the annual output value of peony seed oil per hectare.In the 2018,A.mellifera pollination contributed 12,600 yuan to the annual output value of peony seeds per hectare,contributing 200,300 yuan to the annual output value of peony seed oil per hectare.This study shows that A.mellifera can effectively pollinate P.ostii ‘Fengdan',which can significantly improve the yield,oil yield and market value of P.ostii ‘Fengdan'.This study provides a theoretical basis for the further application of A.mellifera for the pollination of P.ostii ‘Fengdan',and provides a new basis for further popularizing planting oil peony on barren hills and slopes,developing landscape farmland and enhancing the value of oil peony industry.