Conditioning honeybees to a specific mimic odor increases foraging activity on a self-compatible almond variety

Abstract

Almond is a high-market value crop that benefits from honeybee pollination services, even for self-compatible varieties. Besides, it has been recently shown that the offering of food scented with floral mimic odors specific to different crops biased honeybee foraging preferences towards sunflowers, pear, or apple trees. Herein, we analyzed the floral volatiles of two almond self-compatible varieties to propose potential mimic odors. The mixture which bees discriminated the least from the natural floral scent in olfactory conditioning assays was chosen as almond mimic (AM). In the field, colonies fed AM-scented sucrose solution increased their foraging activity and amounts of stored pollen compared with colonies fed unscented food. Our results support the conditioning of honeybees to a floral mimic odor as a potential tool to bias their foraging preferences in almond, even applicable to self-compatible varieties. Future studies should address its effect on yield.