The western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is the most globally used managed pollinator species, but it can have limited pollinating activity on nectariferous crops displaying anthers isolated from stigmas, i.e., when anthers are spatially or temporally separated from stigma within or between flowers. We supplemented honey bee colonies with pollen in the combs or in paste form laid on top of the hive frames to test if these treatments could reduce their pollen foraging and increase their pollinating activity in a monoecious and nectariferous cultivar of cantaloupe melon (Cucumis melo L.), in comparison with control colonies not supplemented. We recorded the pollen forager density per flower, the number of pollen grains deposited per stigma and their resulting fruit set, seed set and fruit mass, before and after the colony pollen supplementations. The number of pollen grains deposited by honey bees on stigmas increased gradually after pollen supplementation in the combs. But pollen foraging decreased only moderately, and no effect could be observed on any yield component except the seed set. On the other hand, there was no effect of the pollen paste laid on top of the frames either on stigmatic pollen loads, on colony pollen foraging or on any yield component. Supplementing honey bee colonies with pollen in the combs can therefore be an effective means for increasing their pollinating activity in nectariferous crops displaying anthers isolated from stigmas, e.g., Amaryllidaceae, Apiaceae, Cucurbitaceae, avocado, all hybrid seed productions. The context for the potential use of pollen substitutes is discussed.

中文翻译：

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向蜜蜂（膜翅目：蜜蜂科）群体补充花粉可增加其对带有从柱头分离的花药的蜜腺作物的授粉活性

西部蜜蜂 (Apis mellifera L.) 是全球使用最广泛的受管理传粉媒介物种，但它对花药与柱头分离的采蜜作物的授粉活动有限，即当花药在花内或花间与柱头在空间或时间上分离时。我们向蜜蜂群补充了蜂巢中的花粉或放在蜂巢框架顶部的糊状花粉，以测试这些处理是否可以减少其花粉觅食并增加其在哈密瓜（Cucumis melo L. ），与未补充的对照菌落相比。我们记录了群体花粉补充前后每朵花的花粉采集密度、每个柱头沉积的花粉粒数量以及由此产生的坐果、结籽和果实质量。蜂巢补充花粉后，蜜蜂沉积在柱头上的花粉粒数量逐渐增加。但花粉觅食仅适度减少，除结籽外，未观察到对任何产量组成部分的影响。另一方面，放置在框架顶部的花粉糊对柱头花粉负载、群体花粉觅食或任何产量组成部分均没有影响。因此，向蜂群补充蜂巢中的花粉可以是提高其在展示从柱头分离的花药的蜜源作物中授粉活性的有效手段，例如石蒜科、伞形科、葫芦科、鳄梨和所有杂交种子生产。讨论了花粉替代品的潜在用途的背景。