Agricultural Research Service Scientists Develop Self-Pollinating Almond Trees

From the Science Daily:

 Self-pollinating almond trees that can produce a bountiful harvest without insect pollination are being developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. This is good news for almond growers who face rising costs for insect pollination because of nationwide shortages of honey bees due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other factors.

ARS geneticist Craig Ledbetter, at the agency's Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research Unit near Parlier, Calif., is developing this new line of self-pollinating almond trees. Self-pollinating almonds are not new. The Tuono variety, originally from Spain, has been around for centuries. But its traits are not attractive when compared to California's most popular almond, Nonpareil.

Tuono's seed coat has a hairy texture and it has a very thick shell, so only 32 percent of the nut is edible kernel, compared to 60 to 65 percent for Nonpareil. But Tuono's thick shell gives it more resistance to the navel orangeworm and other pests. An almond that has traits from both varieties would be ideal. Ledbetter and his collaborators used Tuono as the male (pollen) parent in conventional hybridizations with California-adapted almond cultivars and selections. The scientists made crosses at bloom time and came back at harvest time to collect the nuts. They then grew those nuts into seedlings and surrounded the branches with insect-proof nylon bags to exclude insects that could serve as pollinators. The seedlings bloomed and some produced fruits inside the bags, making these seedlings self-pollinating.

Read more:  Agricultural Scientists Develop Self-Pollinating Almond Trees

Photo credit: Tripadvisor

Study in Kerala, India: Cellphone Towers Can Pose a Threat to Honey Bee Population

According to a study conducted by Dr. Sainuddin Pattazhy in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cellphones can pose a threat to honey bees. The experiment found that a sudden drop in the bee population was caused by towers installed across the state by cellphone companies to increase their networks.

Dr. Pattazhy said the electromagnetic waves emitted by the towers crippled the "navigational skills" of the worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers to sustain bee colonies. He also found that when a cellphone was kept near a beehive, the worker bees were unable to return, abandoning the hives with only the queen and eggs, leading to a collapse of the colony within 10 days.

This latest development could adversely affect the more than 100,000 people in Kerala who are engaged in apiculture because the dwindling worker bee population poses a threat to their livelihood. Additionally, the bees also play an integral role in pollination to sustain vegetation. Pattazhy sounded the alarm by saying if  towers and mobile phones further increase, honey bees might be wiped out in 10 years. Though I am a little skeptical of the "gloom and doom" theory, I do believe that it is paramount that we ascertain what is really happening to the honey bees.

Photo credit:  Dark Honey Bee, Ron Hemberger