Which Crops and Plants Are Pollinated By Honey Bees?

What Is Bee Pollination?

Bee pollination is one type of entomophily, which is pollination performed by insects. Bees are one of the most common pollinators and manage to visit several different plant species in a single afternoon. Bees land on these various plants and collect pollen and nectar, which they carry back to their hives as food for the colony. As they travel from plant to plant, bees deposit pollen on the female reproductive organs of new plants. This transfer of pollen allows for fertilization.

The Importance of Bee Pollination

Pollination is perhaps the most important function of bees, particularly honey bees. In fact, research shows that bees are responsible for pollinating approximately 16% of global flowering plants and around 400 agricultural crop plants. In 2010, honey bees (along with other pollinators) contributed to the pollination of around $19 billion worth of agricultural crops. This article takes a closer look at which specific crops are pollinated by honey bees.

Which Crops Are Pollinated By Honey Bees?

The importance of honey bee pollination varies per crop and can be classified as one of the following: essential, great, modest, and little.

Essential

Honey bee pollination is considered essential for eight crops: kiwifruit, passion fruit, rowanberry, watermelon, squash (includes pumpkin, gourd, and zucchini), macadamia nut, and brazil nut. These plants grow across a wide variety of agricultural climates, from temperate to tropical.

Kiwifruit is most successfully pollinated via saturation pollination. This method is when agricultural workers put about 8 hives for every 2.5 acres, thereby forcing bees to collect pollen from solely kiwifruit blossoms.

Passion fruit is most successfully pollinated via bee pollination because its pollen is too heavy and sticky to be transported across the wind. In the US state of Florida, for example, honey bees are the only pollinator for the yellow passion fruit species. In Australia, agricultural workers encourage honey bee pollination by placing 2 to 3 hives for every 2.5 acres.

Great

Bee pollination is characterized as having great importance in the following crops: cashew, starfruit, turnip, coriander, cucumber, durian, cardamom, loquat, buckwheat, feijoa, fennel, apple, mango, avocado, allspice, apricot, sweet and sour cherries, plum, almond, peach, pear, rose hips, raspberry, blackberry, naranjillo, and blueberry.

Of these crops, blueberries require the greatest number of honey bee hives per acre, between 3 and 4 colonies on each acre. Blueberries are unable to self-pollinate and produce sticky, heavy pollen, which means this plant relies on insects to help it achieve fertilization. In Australia, honey bees make up 95% of the insects that pollinate this crop. Blueberry blossoms attract bees with sweet nectar, which is produced at the base of the stigma.

Almonds are next, in terms of the number of colonies needed for pollination. This crop requires between 2 and 3 hives per acre for proper pollination. The almond plant attracts honey bees and other insects because it produces flowers earlier in the season than other crops, making it one of the only food sources available.

Modest

Crops that fall under modest honey bee pollination include: eggplant, jujube, karite, broad bean, service tree, sesame, elderberry, black currant, pomegranate, guava, prickly pear cactus, mammee apple, sunflower, cotton, strawberry, hyacinth bean, coffee plants, coconut, chestnut, caraway, sword bean, rapeseed, mustard, strawberry, and okra.

A list of the important crop plants that rely on honey bee pollination can be found in the chart published below.