Factors Affecting Pollination of Onions in Idaho During 19691

Abstract

Abstract The ratio of pollen-fertile to pollen-sterile rows was more than twice the recommended ratio. The activity of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., was largely limited to pollen collecting on the pollen parent rows; there was an average of 100 bees per 100 ft of row on the pollen-parent as compared with a maximum of 40 bees per 100 ft of row on the male-steriles. Bee activity and seed yields (which were generally unsatisfactory) decreased as the distance from the pollen rows increased. About half of the bees sampled at the hive entrances had pollen loads and about 8 percent of these were onion pollen. Samples from the pollen traps contained 6 percent onion pollen. Onion as a source of pollen is less attractive to honey bees than other sources in the area. The viability of onion pollen from flowers in the morning was 2 to 3 times greater than in the afternoon. Onion pollen taken from pollen traps did not germinate.