Progress 08/15/16 to 04/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience: 1. 2 Growers in Canyon County, ID where we placed our hardware through the 2016 season 2. Focus group of growers where we presented the results from the analysis of data from the 2016 season derived ideas for development of the software solution 3. S&W seed company where we installed our hardware and collaborated to develop our software solution, deployed our software solution to their agronomists in the 2017 season. 4. 8 Growersin ID and WA where we placed our hardware in 15 separate incubators and deployed the software application for the 2017 season. 5. USDA researchers and staff at the Logan, UT bee labwhere we analysed and discussed the results from the 2016 season 6. Western Alfalfa seed gowers meeting attendees in the annual conference at Las Vegas, NV 7. Idaho State Dept of Commerce for a status update on our project Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Although this project is not intended or designed for training or professional development, some training and development opportunities were realized. 1) Under the guidance of USDA ARS scientists,students/young researchersand technicians gained experience Alfalfa leafcutting bee emergence characteristics. In addition, they were able to present results in conference and industry meetings. 2) Under the guidance of Kairosys, undergraduate students seeking careers in Agriculture gained valuable experience and profession development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Conference poster andpresentation Partial results of this study were presentedat the Western Alfalfa Seed Growers Association annual conference in Las Vegas, NV. The presentation was made by USDA-ARS personnel and a poster was prepared. Kairosys and USDA team members responded to questions from growers on pollination management and bee health. Grower Meetings In partnership with S&W seed company, Kairosys presented results from the study to growers within the S&W network. The team also engaged the growers in the discussion about best practices in incubation and the features in a live mobile app that will enable the growers to manage their bees better. Pilot deployment Kairosys deployed the first version of the commercial product, Incusense, in multiple grower incubators and S&W incubators. In the 2017 season the growers could monitor their bees using this application in real time. The application calculated the degree days accumulated and presented the growers with a picture of the developmental stage of the bees. In addition the application also provided the male and female hatch dates. In addition a live graph of temperature was also made available. The growers and agronomists could set high and low temperature alerts with an option of receiving alerts by phone, text, and email. The application also alerted the growers on the protocols to be followed during specific developmental stages. The timing of the protocol alerts have been chosen based on the results obtained from the study. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact of the Program An efficient alfalfapollination management program coordinates bee release with bloom onset while minimizingresidual pesticide hazard. Due to vagaries in weather and pest related issues growers regularly have to adjust the release dates of the bees into the field. Growers would like to have the maximum possible flexibility even though this comes at a price of increased mortality of bees. We studied controlled interruption of incubation of pre- and near-emergence bees to understand the impact on bee emergence timing and rate. The results of this study showed that we could interrupt incubation for up to 7calendar days without significant loss of mortality even if the bees were at an advanced stage of development (1 day from emergence). We increased the level of precision of incubation interruption which has thus far not been available to growers which allows them to improve their bee release timing and overall management practices. We also have created improved protocols during storage and early stage incubation of the bees which reduced bee mortality in our trials up to 10%. Reduction in bee mortality reduces cost for the growers and improves crop yield. Simulated conditions of actual grower incubators showed that impreciseramping down and ramping up of temperature during incubation interruption did not significantly impact the mortality of the bees, however, the spread in emergence increased by a factor of 2-3 in our trials. This result directs us to consider designing a new incubator to standardize and more precisely control the incubation process. Based on these results, Kairosys has already deployed a first version of the commercial product to growers in the 2017 season. The product feedback from both the grower and agronomist community has been positive. Objective 1:Increase precision of bee emergence and mortality data of pre- and near-emergence bees exposed to incubation interruption Careful timing of ALB emergence with anticipated bloom is necessary to achieve optimal pollination in alfalfa seed production fields. ALB populations overwinter at 4-6°C in temperature-controlled storage units as pre-pupae in cocoons, and require around three weeks of incubation at constant 28-30°C before they emerge as adults. Therefore, three weeks in advance of bee emergence, growers must predict when bloom will be available to foraging bees. If weather, pests, or spray applications delay alfalfa bloom, it may be necessary to slow bee development. The timing of a required dichlorvos (insecticide) application and subsequent ventilation to control the parasitic wasp Pteromalus venustus that emerges before the bees creates a lower boundary for incubation interruption to day 14, and male emergence creates an upper boundary of day 18. Interrupting incubation after the onset of bees emergence increases adult mortality due to starvation. In general, bee mortality increases with lower temperatures and longer durations of interrupted storage (Stephen 1981, Rank and Goerzen 1982, Rajamohan and Sinclair 2008, Yocum et.al. 2010). Although Yocum et.al. (2010) evaluated the consequences of incubation interruption on ALB mortality and emergence synchronization, they used individual bee cells in small laboratory arenas. In 2016, we also evaluated ALB emergence timing and mortality in response to various durations of incubation interruption (for 0, 1, 3, 7 or 14 days). In this study, cocooned bees were contained in five incubation trays, with bee samples (400 cocoons per sample) contained separately in ventilated bags touching each other to allow metabolic heat to accumulate and be shared within each tray, as would happen in grower incubators. Treatment samples were moved from 29°C to 18°C to prescribed interruption durations with variable starting days of 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 days of incubation, and then returned for completing development at 29°C. Emerged adults were removed and counted up to three times daily until emergence ceased. We found that it is possible to delay adult emergence for up to 7 days at 18°C with very little impact on mortality. Adult mortality is less than 10% when incubation is interrupted up to 17 days after incubation onset, but can be up to 18% for a 2 week interruption period and after 18 days of incubation. Interruptions caused a shortening of the length of the male emergence period, but an increase in mortality, compared to females; however, interruptions had no effect on overall sex ratio of emerged bees. Females emerged quicker (i.e., required fewer degree days when subjected to incubation interruption while males are comparatively unaffected. Until now, this level of precision has not been available to growers. We found that when the incubation was not interrupted, the average mortality of the bees was higher than when a small amount of incubation interruption was introduced. Bees generate their own heat during development and this phenomenon can create local pockets of high temperature. Temperatures above 40 C are often fatal to developing bees. In cohorts where incubation interruption was not introduced maximum temperature went above 40 C every time and up to 45 C in some instances. When the bees were cooled down to 18 C even for 1 day, the overall heat mass reduced sufficiently enough that the bee temperature never crossed 35 C. This is a very significant result which changes the protocol for bee incubation to include prescribed cooling at specific points within the development cycle. Objective 2:Understand the practical incubation control operational windows by simulating commercial farm incubator conditions This objective of this study was to assess how ALCB emergence may vary just from changes to the duration of ramping to 29 C following one week of 18 C interruption. One sample of 2,000 bees were assessed for emergence across 5 different treatments (ramp durations 20 minutes, 2 hours, 10 hours, 24 hours, 18 hours or 24 hours). Bees were incubated at 29 C for 16 days, then introduced to an 18 C interruption for 7 days. Bees were then returned to 29 C according to treatment. To assess daily emergence, the 2,000 ALCB cocoons were places in a 6" x 6" wooden box with an inverted hardware cloth funnel glued over the top of it. The box with attached funnel was situated in a larger, plexiglass emergence chamber that trapped the emerging adults. Twice per day, the boxes were checked for emergence. Emerging bees were counted (by sex) and vacuumed up into BioQuip BugVacs. The primary conclusion is that the duration of ramping from incubation interruption has any obvious effects on emergence mortality in any way. The degree day model for the emergence data shows that the spread in emergence of the 24 hour ramp increased by a factor of over 2.5 times the spread in the case where the ramp was 20 minutes. Objective 3: Development of hardware and software solution to monitor incubation through a smartphone Kairosys' Incusense solution consists of 3 parts, the hardware installation, a software application front end, and an analytics back end. We developed this solution using internal funds and incorporated the results from Phase I research. The hardware consists of temperature and humidity sensors that are placed in the incubator rooms to get ambient information and in bee trays to monitor actual bee cocoon temperature. These sensors communicate to a central gateway using 900 MHz RF and the gateway records the data into the cloud using cellular connection. Data is collect at least once an hour. The analytics back end calculates the degree days and the estimates the hatch date and time of both males and females. All the developmental stages of the bees and emergence of the Pteromalus parasite are determined and continuously corrected as new temperature values come in. The software application allows growers to manage multiple incubators simultaneously.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Boyle, N., et.al., Delaying alfalfa leafcutting bee emergence using incubation interruption, WASGA Conference, Las Vegas, NV, January 2017.
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