title: Honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) foraging in response to preconditioning with onion flower scent compounds.
abstract: Onion (Allium cepa L.) seed production has long been plagued with yield problems because of lack of pollination by the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. To attempt to attract more pollinators to the onion seed production field, honey bees were conditioned to associate onion floral odor components with a reward. Isolated nucleus hives of honey bees were fed 30% sucrose solutions scented with a 0.2% solution of onion floral odor compounds. After feeding on these solutions for 6 wk, bees were not found to prefer onion flowers to two competing food sources, carrot and alfalfa flowers, at the 5% significance level. However, there was an overall trend indicating a change in honey bee behavior, with fewer "trained" bees visiting alfalfa and carrot and more visiting onion. Thus, it may be possible to alter honey bee behavior with preconditioning but probably not to a degree that would be economically significant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Washington State University Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, 24106 North Bunn Road, Prosser, WA 99350, USA. emsilva@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Bill B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Larry K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Hiller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry*; D009812:Odorants; D019697:Onions / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development; D012996:Solutions; D013395:Sucrose
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions; D013395:Sucrose