Sunflower pollen good for bees; has medicinal and protective effects

The rapid decline in bee populations worldwide is worrisome, but a new study suggests a glimmer of hope. The study suggests that to promote the health and welfare of bees, bees should have greater access to sunflower. The study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The study was conducted by researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Mbadachusetts at Amherst. It turns out that two different species of bees, fed with sunflower pollen, had infection rates considerably reduced by specific pathogens. on this sunflower diet also benefited the bees because they showed better colony health than bees fed with flower pollen diets.

] Crithidia bombi ) in bumblebees ( Bombus impatiens ). Sunflower pollen also played a protective role for European bees ( Apis mellifera) against another pathogen ( Nosema ceranae .) These pathogens have been implicated in slowing rates. growth of bee colonies and increase in the number of bee deaths.

However, the study also suggests that the sunflower-based diet had a detrimental effect as the honey bees had a mortality rate about the same as that of honey, non-pollen bees four times higher than honey bees fed buckwheat pollen, but this effect of mortality was not observed in honey bees. bumble bees.

Jonathan Giacomini, Ph.D. student in Applied Ecology at NC State, who is also the corresponding author of an article describing the research, said that these bees already seemed to have been able to collect sunflower pollen. Every year, nearly two million acres in the United States and 10 million in Europe are devoted to sunflower, he said, making sunflower pollen a ready-made food source for bees.

"We tried other monofloral pollens, or pollen from a flower, but it seems like we hit the jackpot with sunflower pollen," said co-principal, Rebecca Irwin, a professor. ecology applied to NC State. "None of the others we studied have had this constant positive effect on the health of bumblebees."

Sunflower pollen is also very low in protein and some amino acids and should not be considered a stand-alone meal for bees. Said Irwin. "But sunflower could be a good addition to a diverse population of wildflowers for bees," she added, especially generalists like bumble bees and bees.

The next step for NC state researchers would probably be to follow the study to find out if other bee species also show the positive effects of sunflower pollen and determine the mechanism causing mainly positive effects of sunflower pollen.

"We do not know if sunflower pollen helps host bees to control pathogens or if sunflower pollen has an effect on pathogens," said Irwin.