Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs Target Audience:This project is developing new information for blueberry growers andtheir advisors. The project is targeting audiences including growers, extension educators, applied researchers, and weather system staff with our information and programs. We are also spreading information about the project more widely through social media. Changes/Problems:Extreme heat in the summer of 2021 in the Pacific Northwest where some of this project is being conducted resulted in effects on yield measures. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In Florida, one post-doctoral researcher, Stan Chabert, and research staff, Shiala Morales Naranjo, have received training and professional development as part of this project. In Washington, the project allowed for postdoc, Maxime Eeraerts, to gain more experience with honey bee pollination and leading a team of undergraduate and graduate researchers during the pollination season. In Michigan, two graduate students, Jenna Walters and Lauren Goldstein, have gained many new research skills and have had their tuition covered and research supported by this project.Additionally, many undergraduatestudents/technicians from the participating universities have received training and professional development, including pollination, experimental design set up, data collection, data management, and creation of grower reports as part of this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In Florida and Washington, allparticipating farmsreceived a grower report with study results from the 2021 seasonand farm-specific information. In Washington, information on honey bee hive assessments, project aims and preliminary findings, and a review of blueberry pollination was shared at two field days: 1) One in Albany, Oregon on July 7 and 2) One in Aurora, OR on July 15 in partnership with co-PI Melathopoulos. DeVetter participated in a PolliNation podcast about the project, which received 927 downloads.Information was also shared via Twitter. DeVetter participated in a PolliNation podcast about the project, which received 927 downloads. Multiple social media posts were shared through the Oregon Bee Project and Andony Melathopoulos was interviewed for two stories with Oregon local media. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? For Objective 1, we will repeat the field experiments and we will also optimize the protocol. For Objective 1c, we will finish updating the Washington and Michigan baseline enterprise budgets, collect data related to our alternative scenarios for the cost benefit analysis, and conduct preliminary partial budget analysis.Expand Objective 2, including an evaluation of pollination requirements on additional southern highbush blueberry cultivars along with northern highbush blueberry cultivars. We will repeat pollination treatments on this larger set ofcultivars, andconduct additional experiments to investigate how degree of relatedness influences the benefits of cross pollination for yield and fruit quality. Finally, we will conduct experiments to measure pollinator preferences across cultivars and to link these preferences to specific floral traits.For Objective 3 we will be repeating and expanding experiments on the effects of temperature on nectar secretion and the effective pollination periodacrossdifferent cultivars.We will continue to collect environmental data on crop phenology and honey bee foraging, model those data, and leverage it for the Pollination Planner. For Objective 4, we will continue to work on predictive models for the Pollination Planner and work with the Extension team in Objective 5b on obtaining feedback on our draft Pollination Planner interface from stakeholders and our advisory board.For Objective 5, we will disseminate information at grower conferences, field days, work with Objective 4 team on getting feedback on the Pollination Planner draft interface. Collection of baseline data for the impact assessment will also be finalized.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Conduct cost-benefit analyses of differenthoney beestocking density and placement strategies to develop recommendations for modern blueberry systems.The Washington team led development of a shared protocol and data templates for sub-objectives 1a-1b with contributions from the entire project team. For subobjective 1a (stocking density), twelvepairedblueberryfarmsacross both Floridaand Michigan were selected (24 total).Half of these farmsreceivedtheaveragehoney bee density treatment, while the other halfreceived either double the average honey beedensitytreatment (in Florida), or an increase of 2 hives per acre than the standard stocking rate (in Michigan). At all farms,honey beevisitation rates were measured on 1or2 cultivars at least 3 times per cultivarduring bloom.Honey beeactivity at the hive (1 min forager counts)was measured on 3-6 occasionsper farm, and cluster counts were performed on a subset of hives at the beginning of the season. Fruit set, weight, and seed set were measured on select branches of 1or2 cultivars per farm, and pollination treatments (open, closed, hand pollinated) were conducted onselect branches of 1or2 cultivars per farm. Additional variables including weather and flowering ground cover were recorded at each farmduring each visit. For sub-objective 1b (placement strategies), the Washington team measured the effects of honey bee hive placement across 12 grower sites, Oregon had 6 sites, and Michigan compared 8 sites. At each site, hives were either placed in a clumped or dispersed pattern. Honey bee visitation, hive activity, and fruit metrics were all measured as described above. Silicone bands were attached to study hives in order to measure pesticide exposure during bloom. These bands are being submitted for pesticide residue analysis. Data analysis was led by the Washington team for sub-objectives 1a (hive density) and 1b (hive placement) for presentation to our advisory board. For 1c (cost-benefit assessment), updating of the baseline enterprise budgets was initiated. 2: Determine pollination requirements and pollinator attraction across new and existing cultivars.Pollination requirements were investigated on7 southern highbush cultivars. Specifically, pollination treatments including no hand pollination, hand self-pollination, and hand cross-pollination were conducted to assess rates of auto fertility andself-fertilityfertilityorself-compatibilityfor each of 7 cultivars. Fruit set, fruit weight, and seed set were measured for all pollination treatmentson each cultivar. Additionally, the length of the effective pollination period was assessed in the cultivar Emerald.These activities generated some interesting preliminaryresults and were effective in refining methods that will be used in future years of the project. 3: Determine how variable weather conditions affect blueberry pollination.In Florida, the effect of temperature on the effective pollination period of the southern highbush cultivar Emerald was investigated by conducting pollination experiments under 12 C and 29 C temperature treatments. Additionally, nectar secretion rates over time were examined under different temperature treatments for the cultivar Emerald.In Michigan, the effect of extreme heat on blueberry pollen germination and pollen tube growth was investigated in vitro on several common northern highbush cultivars, including Bluecrop, Jersey, Liberty, and Elliott. Temperatures used in experiments ranged from 10 - 37.5 C and were assessed at 4 and 24 hours after exposure to heat treatments. A manuscript is in progress to publish these results, and more varieties will be tested using these same methods in 2022.Furthermore, during field data collection for objective 1 (stocking and hive placement effects), we also collected weather data immediately before and after measuring honey bee foraging in blueberry fields. We sampled across a range of environmental conditions to capture representative environmental variations in our field conditions. Environmental data collected included: temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, cloud cover, irradiance, and wind speed. Analysis of this data will help determine how weather conditions effect bee activity and successful pollination. 4: Develop predictive models of pollination, fruit set, and yield for creation of a Pollination Planner to improve pollination management decisions.Data from objectives 1-3 was delivered to collaborators in order to be incorporated into Objective 4's predictive models.A draft Pollinator Planner interface was developed and the interface was shared with meteorologists and our advisory board for feedback. 5: Deliver information on improved blueberry pollination to the industry.Information was delivered at a field day in Oregon with co-PIs Melathopoulos and Devetter. The whole team was able to share information via our project Twitter account (@BeesNBerries). A project website was developed to share project updates and relevant materials. On this website, we are publishing a regular newsletter that stakeholders can subscribe to. Team members from Oregon and Washington also contributed to two PollinNation podcasts on berry crop pollination.A survey was created for impact assessment and was distributed to blueberry growers across the country. Melathopoulos developed a card and infographic to promote responses to our grower survey. The draft Pollination Planner from Objective 4 was prepared for our fall advisory board meeting where we received feedback from members on the board. In Florida and Washington, individual grower reports were provided to all participating farms. These reports provided farm-specific data collected under Objective 1.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Andony Melathopoulos (Host), 2021, Lisa Devetter - Blueberry Pollination Planner #192 (audio podcast episode), PolliNation Podcast. Oregon State University Extension Service. https://extension.oregonstate.edu/podcast/pollination-podcast/192-lisa-devetter-blueberry-pollination-planner
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Andony Melathopoulos (Host), 2021, Maxime Eeraerts - Sweet Cherry Pollination #190 (audio podcast episode), PolliNation Podcast. Oregon State University Extension Service.
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/podcast/pollination-podcast/190-maxime-eeraerts-sweet-cherry-pollination
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Blueberry Pollination website: https://blueberrypollination.org/
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