Performing Department
Biology
Non Technical Summary
Blueberry, a specialty crop prized for both its health benefits and potential earnings, is highly dependent on insect-mediated pollination for production. When insect visitation rates are low, pollen transfer is also low, and production fails to reach yield and quality standards necessary to support grower profits and consumer demand. Therefore, growers distribute honey bee colonies on their farms to increase pollination. However, this practice is of limited efficacy due to insect preferences for flowers with specific morphological characteristics as well as scent and nectar, which make effective pollination difficult. Moreover, when honey bees feed exclusively on blueberry flowers, bee colonies are depleted, a phenomenon not yet fully understood. Ultimately, the added costs for beehive management drive increasing costs of hive rental, resulting in lower revenues for producers. To tackle the issue of effective blueberry pollination, this Specialty Crop Research Initiative Planning Project proposes a synergy-building meeting where experts will discuss a strategic plan to promote flower visitation and pollen transfer, as well as ensure quality foraging resources for honey bees. By combining expertise in floral chemistry and morphology, genetics, apiculture, floral microbiome, bee behavioral video-tracking, horticulture, and economics, our team of experts, together with industry collaborators and stakeholders, will plan a feasible approach for better pollination, which will ultimately be translated in the completion of a future Standard Research and Extension Project proposal. Additional project outcomes, including a perspective article and materials for growers, consumers and student learning, will help raise awareness on the importance of insect-mediated pollination for fruit and seed production.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of this proposal is to find sustainable solutions to pollination in blueberry that meet farmers needs for stable and competitive yields and the public demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices. We have set short- and mid-term goals to help us to reach our long-term goal. Our primary short-term goal is the organization of a Planning Meeting which will bring together a interdisciplinary team of experts in the field of flower chemistry, genetics, pollination, AI, economy and extension to write a successful SCRI-SREP proposal. During the meeting, our team of experts will brainstorm about methods and strategies to find solution to blueberry pollination. Our mid-term goals, which will be further solidified during the planning meeting, include: identification of the chemical traits of pollinator preferences and their underlying genetics; determine the morphological traits promoting animal-mediated pollination and their molecular determinants; improving techniques of pollinator tracking; identify ways to improve breeding to improve animal-mediated pollination. Concurrently, we aim at rising awareness on the need for animal-mediated pollination in blueberry and other crops.
Project Methods
In the first phase of the project, the PD will contact all meeting participants via email to confirm day and time of the meeting and the logistic associated with travel and lodging. PD Borghi with the help of a USU postdoc, will divide the team into working groups based on their area of expertise and assign tasks. Working groups (WGs) will be proposed based on PI and co-PI area of expertise and include: 1) Flower morphology and chemistry; 2) Genomics, genetics and mapping; 3) Pollinators: nutrition, health, behavior, and the microbiome; 4) Horticulture: production, extension, and economics. PD Borghi will prepare templates to be used for the PowerPoint presentations, and a detailed list of meeting expectations and outcomes to be sent to all participants. PIs and co-PIs will examine the current literature in their field of expertise and send to PD Borghi a copy of their PowerPoint presentation and a detailed bibliography with statements of significance of the most relevant papers in that discipline. PD Borghi will compile the material and share it with the team during the first week of March 2024. The goal of the presentations and the purpose of bibliographies are to educate between specialties and provide a common platform for discussion. Each WG will designate a chair responsible for compiling the written reports including a summary of the main objectives, methods, and approaches. The reports will be utilized to write the draft of a future SREP proposal. Cross-working-group discussions will be set to facilitate engagement and participation across specialties and clarify methods and assumptions. PD, co-PD, PIs, co-PIs, industry collaborators, stakeholders, and advisory board 17 members will participate to cross-working-group discussions, which will be facilitated by Riley (Visualizing Potential LLC). Each WG group will present "state of the art", "proposed approach", and "material/tools needed to complete the task". Working group and cross-working-group discussion will follow during the afternoon of day one and day two. Team members will write reports about those discussions which will become integral components of the SREP proposal. PD Borghi will collect the material, revise it and share it with all participants after the meeting. PD, co-PD, PIs and co-PIs will also continue conversations and discussions via email and videoconferences after the workshop. The aim of this prolonged dialogue is perfecting the drafts of the SREP proposal and providing updates until submission. These prolonged meetings will also serve the purpose of finalizing a review paper on the topic of pollination in blueberry and novel research directions that can be taken to improve it. Fact sheets, instructional material and material for public outreach will be ready and shared among all team members after the workshop and will be readily available for dissemination.