Managing the Activity of Pollinators in Protected Cropping Systems (MAPP-CS)

管理保护性耕作系统中授粉媒介的活动 (MAPP-CS)

• 批准号: BB/Z514366/1
• 负责人: Sarah Arnold
• 金额: $ 35.16万
• 依托单位: National Institute of Agricultural Botany
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FZ514366%2F1
• 关键词: Managing; Activity; Pollinators; Protected; Cropping

Context: The UK produces around £600m of soft-fruit annually, comprising 650,000 tonnes of fruit per year. Production via enclosed systems such as vertical farms, enclosed polytunnels, and poly-houses/glasshouses is increasing and completely dependent on managed pollinators to provide pollen transfer for fruit-set. Commercial growers are facing large challenges to maintain profitable with increasing energy, water, fertiliser, and labour costs and availability. Growers therefore must increase production efficiency to meet these challenges. Pollination and the impact on fruit quantity and quality is a major route to achieving this. When soft-fruit (e.g. strawberry) is optimally pollinated it has higher yield, quality and nutritional profile, and so is more profitable. Pollination is usually delivered to indoor crops by managed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris in Europe, including UK), but other commercially produced pollinators are available (honeybees, mason bees, hoverflies).Challenge: PACE growing systems suffer from poor pollinator performance because pollinating insects are less active, have higher mortality and bumblebees often do not return to the nest, resulting in lower fruit yields and quality and the hive expiring more quickly. This has significant economic impacts on growers. The reasons for these behaviours may relate to the ambient light and other environmental factors. It is important to understand the role of challenges such as: the highly homogeneous crop appearance and scent, causing pollinators to struggle orient and find their way home; rising/setting sun appearing as an indistinct, partly-diffused point-source that disrupts orientation; and supplementary lighting interfering with navigation and task-focus due to light spectral properties that are unfamiliar to bees or that make search tasks more difficult.Aims and objectives: We will research the drivers of pollinator underperformance in enclosed systems, including lighting and navigational factors, and trial a range of affordable interventions to improve pollinator activity and reduce mortality. Experiments will include both bioassays in controlled laboratory conditions and larger-scale trials on growers' sites, to identify and then test interventions to improve crop productivity and pollinator health.The main objectives are to:Calculate the impacts of under-pollination for growers;Assess the performance of complementary pollination (e.g. air-blowing, and hoverflies) in target crops on commercial sites (poly-houses/glasshouses and vertical farms);Evaluate highly innovative light-attenuating films and other affordable interventions to improve pollinator crop-focus and the resultant efficacy of pollination including:interventions for suitability and trade-offs with crop performancehow to optimise the environment for pollinator welfare and performancelongevity of interventions through the season and between yearsApplications and benefits: By identifying causes of pollinator mortality and poor crop-focus, and assessing affordable solutions, farms will see reduced waste of managed pollinators, and improve pollination and thus fruit quality and yield. This will result in lower fruit waste, and increased production efficiency and sustainable growing as more yield is produced with fewer inputs. Grower revenues will increase from the improved yields, driving further investment and production within the UK, and with greater domestic production the need for imports will be reduced. UK consumers will benefit from better quality fruit without increasing prices.

背景：英国每年生产约6亿GB的软水果，其中包括65万吨水果。通过封闭式系统(如垂直农场、封闭式多层隧道和多层温室/温室)进行的生产正在增加，并完全依赖受管理的授粉者为坐果提供花粉转移。随着能源、水、化肥和劳动力成本和供应的增加，商业种植者面临着维持盈利的巨大挑战。因此，种植者必须提高生产效率，以应对这些挑战。授粉及其对果实数量和质量的影响是实现这一目标的主要途径。当软果(如草莓)进行最佳授粉时，它具有更高的产量、品质和营养状况，因此更有利可图。授粉通常由管理的熊蜂(Bombus terrestris在欧洲，包括英国)传递给室内作物，但也可以使用其他商业授粉器(蜜蜂、石蜂、苍蝇)。挑战：Pace种植系统受到传粉器性能差的影响，因为授粉昆虫不那么活跃，死亡率较高，大黄蜂通常不返回巢，导致水果产量和质量较低，蜂箱更快到期。这对种植者有重大的经济影响。这些行为的原因可能与环境光线和其他环境因素有关。重要的是要了解挑战的作用，如：高度均匀的作物外观和气味，导致传粉者难以定向并找到回家的路；日出/落山看起来像是一个模糊的、部分扩散的点源，扰乱了定向；补充照明由于蜜蜂不熟悉的光谱特性而干扰导航和任务重点，使搜索任务更加困难。目的和目标：我们将研究封闭系统中传粉者表现不佳的驱动因素，包括光照和导航因素，并尝试一系列负担得起的干预措施，以改善传粉者的活动，降低死亡率。实验将包括在受控实验室条件下的生物测定和在种植者现场的更大规模的试验，以确定并测试提高作物产量和传粉者健康的干预措施。主要目标是：计算授粉不足对种植者的影响；评估商业场所(多层住宅/温室和垂直农场)目标作物的补充授粉(例如，吹风和飞蝇)的表现；评估高度创新的光衰减薄膜和其他负担得起的干预措施，以改善传粉者对作物的关注和授粉的结果效果，包括：适宜性干预措施以及与作物表现的权衡措施如何优化传粉者福利和表现的环境如何在整个季节和年度之间延长干预措施应用和效益：通过确定传粉者死亡和作物聚焦不良的原因，并评估负担得起的解决方案，农场将减少管理传粉者的浪费，从而改善授粉，从而改善水果质量和产量。这将减少水果浪费，提高生产效率和可持续增长，因为用更少的投入生产更多的产量。种植者的收入将从产量的提高中增加，从而推动英国国内的进一步投资和生产，随着国内产量的增加，对进口的需求将会减少。英国消费者将在不提高价格的情况下受益于质量更好的水果。