Camellia oleifera bee pollination device and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a camellia oleifera bee pollination device and method.The device comprises a hive, a hive entrance is arranged on a front side plate of the hive, and the camellia oleifera bee pollination device is characterized in that a camellia oleifera nectar collecting area and an insect breeding and feeding area are arranged in the hive from a front hive entrance side plate to a rear side plate; the camellia oleifera nectar collecting area and the insect breeding and feeding area are separated through a vertical queen excluder, and the camellia oleifera nectar collecting area is communicated with the hive entrance. According to the invention, the beehive is partitioned, and the camellia oleifera nectar collecting area and the insect breeding and feeding area are partitioned, so that larvae and worker bees are prevented from eating camellia oleifera nectar, the poisoning phenomenon of the larvae and worker bees in a bee colony is further avoided, and the survival rate of newly bred worker bees and original worker bees is greatly improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a bee device and a pollination method, in particular to an oil-tea bee pollination device and a method. Background Art

[0002] Camellia oleifera Camellia oleifera Abel.) is a woody oil-bearing tree species unique to my country, belonging to the genus Camellia of the family Theaceae. Camellia Camellia oleifera is a general term for oil-producing plant resources. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with monoecious plants and large, beautiful flowers. It has a cultivation history of over 2,000 years and is widely cultivated in my country. According to the plan of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, my country aims to have an oil-tea camellia planting area exceeding 6 million hectares by 2025. ２ For a long time, the main problem that seriously restricted the development of the oil-tea camellia industry was that it bloomed more but produced less, or even only bloomed but did not produce any fruit. This is mainly because oil-tea camellia is a cross-pollinated plant with a wet stigma. It is a typical insect-pollinated plant. The pollinators are mainly insects, supplemented by wind. In the natural environment, the most efficient pollinator of oil-tea camellia is the giant schizoglossus bee ( Colletes gigas )、Camellia oleifera( Andrena camellia ) and other gregarious, solitary, and earth-dwelling bees. Other insects that can participate in pollination include the Western honey bee ( Apis mellifera Apis cerana cerana (referred to as Western bee), Chinese honey bee ( Apis cerana Fabricius, also known as Chinese bee), flesh fly ( Sarcophaga peregrine ), Drosophila ( Drosophila melanogaster ) and flesh flies ( Sarcophaga naemorrhoidalis Fallen) etc.

[0003] As the planted area expands, the number and variety of natural pollinators cannot meet the rapidly growing demand for oil-tea plantations. Furthermore, the inappropriate use of fertilizers, pesticides, and especially herbicides, has destroyed the habitats of pollinating insects within oil-tea plantations, leading to a decrease in the number and variety of wild pollinators. Consequently, oil-tea plants are not adequately pollinated, resulting in flowers but no fruit, and exacerbating the problem of low yields and inefficiencies. Furthermore, oil-tea plants are late-stage self-incompatible, and most varieties have low self-fertility rates or even self-sterility. Therefore, in the development of the oil-tea industry, methods such as bee pollination or assisted pollination have been the mainstays of remedial measures.

[0004] Compared to artificial pollination, free-range bees are a more labor-saving and hassle-free method of pollination. Both Western honeybees and Chinese honeybees can collect nectar and pollen from camellia oleifera flowers. Studies have shown that a single bee can pollinate thousands of flowers per day, and a swarm of bees can pollinate millions of flowers a day. Furthermore, bees fly between flowers during the pollination process, performing excellent cross-pollination. This plays a key role in the spread of camellia pollen, significantly increasing pollen dispersal and fruit set. However, because camellia oleifera nectar contains high concentrations of mannotriose, raffinose, and stachyose, which cannot be digested in the intestines of larvae and adult worker bees, they gradually accumulate over time, severely interfering with the synthesis of trehalose from glucose in the larvae and worker bees, ultimately leading to poisoning symptoms such as larval death and abdominal swelling in adult worker bees. Therefore, the problem of poisoning from honeybees pollinating camellia oleifera has not yet been effectively resolved. There are also commercial pollinating bumblebees and wall bees. However, a group of commercial bumblebees only has 60-80 individuals and the pollination period is only about 35 days. The temperature is not conducive for wall bees to leave the cocoons during the camellia flowering period. Even if forced heating allows the wall bees to leave the cells, the pollination efficiency will be greatly affected because the temperature is not suitable for the newly emerged wall bees to mate and stay in the nest. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, the present invention proposes a camellia bee pollination device capable of improving the pollination efficiency of camellia oleifera.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention is provided as follows: a device for pollinating camellia honey bees, comprising a hive, the front side panel of which is provided with a hive door, characterized in that a camellia nectar collection area and an insect rearing and feeding area are provided within the hive from the front side panel to the rear side panel, the camellia nectar collection area and the insect rearing and feeding area being separated by a vertical queen excluder, and the camellia nectar collection area being in communication with the hive door. An automatically nectar-separating comb is provided within the camellia nectar collection area, and an insect rearing comb and a feeder are provided within the insect rearing and feeding area. The automatically nectar-separating comb includes an upper comb portion and a lower collection trough, the bottom of each cell on the comb portion being provided with a nectar flow hole, the collection trough being provided at the lower portion of the comb portion and having a width no less than that of the comb portion.

[0007] By setting up partitions in the hive box, the worker bees will return to the hive after pollination and spit the collected camellia nectar on the honeycomb in the camellia nectar collection area. Since there is a nectar flow hole under each cell of the honeycomb, the camellia nectar automatically flows into the lower collection trough, and the worker bees can freely enter the insect breeding area through the vertical queen excluder to eat the sugar water in the feeder and feed the larvae, thereby avoiding poisoning, abdominal swelling and death of the worker bees and larvae due to eating camellia nectar, further improving the survival rate of the worker bees that pollinate camellia and the cultured larvae, and ultimately improving the pollination efficiency of camellia.

[0008] Preferably, in the insect breeding and feeding area, the insect breeding honeycomb is arranged close to the vertical queen excluder, the feeder is arranged away from the vertical queen excluder, and an insulation plate is further arranged on the other side of the feeder.

[0009] Preferably, the automatic nectar separation comb and the larvae rearing comb are at least one, and the spacing between the automatic nectar separation comb, the vertical queen excluder, the larvae rearing comb, the feeder, and the insulation plate is 8-12 mm. The feeder is 5 cm thick and the same size as the comb.

[0010] The present invention also provides a method for pollinating tea leaves with bees using the above-mentioned device, comprising the following steps: Step 1: Select a bee colony with more than 4 honeycombs, remove half of the honeycombs, and place the remaining honeycombs in the back half of the hive; Step 2: Making an automatic nectar separation comb: Subtract 3-5 cm from the lower half of an empty comb. The remaining empty comb is the automatic nectar separation comb. Use a long needle with a diameter of 1.2-1.5 mm and a length of at least 250 mm to penetrate from the lower beam or upper beam of the comb along a row of cells to form nectar flow holes at the bottom of the cells. Repeat this process to form nectar flow holes in all cells of the comb. Finally, install a collection trough at the bottom of the comb to form an automatic nectar separation comb. Place the automatic nectar separation comb in the front half of the hive. Step 3: Install a vertical queen excluder in the middle of the nest box to separate the brood combs and the automatic nectar separation combs, thereby forming a camellia nectar collection area with the automatic nectar separation combs and an insect rearing and feeding area with the brood combs; Step 4: Place the queen bee in the brood rearing and feeding area, adjust the bee path to a standard bee path of 8-12 mm, fill the feeder with 5 kg of syrup, and place the feeder in the brood rearing and feeding area. The feeder is placed behind the brood comb, and an insulation board is also placed behind the feeder. Step 5. During the flowering period of camellia oleifera, place the bee colony in step 4 in the camellia oleifera planting area and allow the bee colony to pollinate the camellia oleifera. Take out the automatic nectar separation comb every 3-7 days, and remove the collecting tank at the bottom of the automatic nectar separation comb. Take out the camellia nectar collected in the collecting tank, repeat the nectar hole setting steps in step 2, pierce the honeycomb again, and then install the collecting tank from which the camellia nectar has been taken out onto the comb part to form an automatic nectar separation comb. Install the automatic nectar separation comb back into the camellia nectar collection area in the hive, and replenish the syrup in the feeder. Repeat step 5 until the flowering period of camellia oleifera ends.

[0011] The syrup formula is white sugar: water: sodium benzoate = 6:4:0.002, calculated by weight.

[0012] Due to the adoption of the above technical solution, the present invention has the following advantages: The present invention partitions the beehive into separate areas for collecting camellia nectar and for rearing and feeding insects. After collecting camellia pollen, worker bees deposit the nectar into the cells of the automatically separating nectar comb in the collection area. The nectar then flows automatically downward into the collection trough below. Attracted by queen pheromones, worker bees pass through the vertical queen excluder and enter the rearing and feeding area, where they consume syrup from the feeder. This prevents worker bees and larvae from consuming camellia nectar, thus preventing worker bee poisoning and significantly improving their survival rate.

[0013] While ensuring the survival rate of worker bees, the pollination efficiency of Camellia oleifera pollen is greatly improved.

[0014] 3. The structure is simple and only requires simple transformation on the basis of the original beehive. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 This is a diagram showing the internal layout of the nest box of the device for pollination of oil-tea bees in Example 1; Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of the plastic part used in the automatic nectar separation comb in Example 1; Figure 3 This is a photo of a bee plastic bag used for automatically separating nectar from the honeycomb in Example 1; Figure 4 This is a diagram showing the nectar flow hole settings for the automatic nectar separation comb in Example 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below. Examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended only to explain the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application. On the contrary, the embodiments of the present application include all variations, modifications, and equivalents that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0017] Example 1: Figure 1-3 As shown, this embodiment provides a device for pollination of oil-tea bees, including a nest box. The nest box in this embodiment is an improvement of the existing Lang's nest box, Wo's nest box, twelve-frame nest box, etc., and the internationally used Lang's nest box is preferred.

[0018] The front side panel of the nest box 1 is provided with a nest door 2, which divides the nest box from the front side panel to the rear side panel. The middle is separated by a vertical queen excluder 3. The area between the vertical queen excluder and the front side panel is a camellia nectar collection area 4, and the area between the vertical queen excluder and the rear side panel is a larvae rearing and feeding area 5. The camellia nectar collection area is connected to the nest door.

[0019] An automatic nectar separation comb 6 is provided in the oil-tea camellia nectar collection area, and an insect breeding comb 7 and a feeder 8 are provided in the insect breeding and feeding area. The insect breeding comb is an ordinary comb.

[0020] The automatic nectar-separating comb 6 can be modified from an existing comb. The existing empty comb is cut off 3-5 cm along its lower edge to form a comb section 61. A long needle (1.2 mm in diameter and 250 mm in length) is then inserted from the lower or upper beam of the cell section through a row of cells to form a nectar hole at the bottom of the cells. Because the cells are regularly arranged, tilting the needle at a certain angle (typically 45°) allows the entire row to be pierced simultaneously. This process is repeated multiple times until all cells are pierced, leaving a hole at the bottom of each cell, the nectar hole. A collection trough 62 is provided at the bottom of the 3-5 cm removed comb section to collect the camellia nectar brewed by the worker bees within the cells. The nectar flows downward from the nectar hole into the collection trough under the influence of gravity from within the cells.

[0021] The honeycomb part can be a plastic part produced by injection molding using a mold. During the production process, honey holes are set on the honeycomb cells through the mold. During use, a long needle with a diameter of 1.2-1.5mm and a length of more than 250mm is used to penetrate once every 5 days to prevent the honey holes from being blocked by honey over time. The collection tank can be a plastic part produced by a mold or a 3D printed plastic part. A sealed plastic bag can also be used, and its opening can be put on the lower part of the honeycomb part and sewn to the honeycomb part with a long needle or installed at the lower part of the honeycomb part by other bonding or fixing means. If the collection trough is made of plastic, its width and length must be designed to match the cross-section of the honeycomb, ensuring that the opening of the collection trough aligns with the cross-section of the honeycomb. This ensures that all the camellia nectar left in the cells is collected within the collection trough, while preventing worker bees from entering and consuming the nectar. Alternatively, the opening of the collection trough can be made slightly larger than the cross-section of the honeycomb, simply to prevent worker bees from entering. A step 63 can be designed on the inner edge of the plastic collection trough, allowing the honeycomb to be directly inserted into the collection trough for installation. Other snap-on designs are also possible.

[0022] In the insect rearing and feeding area, the insect rearing honeycomb is arranged close to the vertical queen excluder, the feeder is arranged away from the vertical queen excluder, and an insulation plate 9 is further arranged on the other side of the feeder.

[0023] The automatic nectar separation comb and the insect rearing comb are at least one, and the spacing between the automatic nectar separation comb, vertical queen excluder, insect rearing comb, feeder, and insulation plate is a standard bee path, i.e., 8-12 mm. The feeder is 5 cm thick. The feeder in this embodiment is existing technology and can be purchased directly on the market, so its structure is not described in detail.

[0024] The tea bee pollination device of this embodiment uses a vertical queen excluder to separate the hive into a tea nectar collection area and a feeding and rearing area. The tea nectar collection area communicates with the hive entrance. By creating these compartments within the hive, worker bees collect tea nectar and deposit it into the cells of the automatic nectar separation comb in the tea nectar collection area. The nectar then flows through nectar holes at the bottom of the cells and into a collection trough at the bottom, where it is collected. Attracted by the queen pheromone, the worker bees fly through the vertical queen excluder into the feeding and rearing area, where they consume the syrup from the feeders.

[0025] In this way, worker bees are prevented from directly consuming camellia nectar, which may lead to poisoning, abdominal swelling and death. The survival rate of worker bees and larvae that pollinate camellia oleifera is further improved, and ultimately the pollination efficiency of camellia oleifera is improved.

[0026] Example 2: Figure 4 As shown, the present invention also provides a method for pollinating tea leaves with bees using the device of Example 1, comprising the following steps: Step 1: Select a bee colony with more than 4 honeycombs, remove half of the honeycombs, and place the remaining honeycombs in the back half of the hive; Step 2: Making an automatic nectar separation comb; The production method is as follows: 3-5 cm is subtracted from the lower half of the empty comb. The remaining empty comb is the comb section for automatic nectar separation. A long needle with a diameter of 1.2 mm and a length of at least 250 mm is used to penetrate from the top of the comb section along a row of cells (inclined at 45 degrees) to the bottom to form nectar flow holes in the row of cells. This action is repeated to form nectar flow holes at the bottom of all cells in the comb section. Finally, a collection trough for collecting nectar is installed at the bottom of the comb section to form an automatic nectar separation comb. The collection trough in this embodiment is a plastic part made by 3D printing and has a step around its inner edge. The comb section is inserted into the opening of the collection trough and is limited by the step. Then, the automatic nectar separation comb is placed in the front half of the hive. In this embodiment, there are two or more automatic nectar separation combs. Step 3: Install a vertical queen excluder in the middle of the nest box to separate the brood combs and the automatic nectar separation combs, forming a camellia nectar collection area with the automatic nectar separation combs and a brood rearing and feeding area with the brood combs; the camellia nectar collection area is connected to the nest door of the nest box; Step 4: Fill the feeder with 5 kg of syrup and place it in the rearing and feeding area, behind the brood combs. A heat preservation plate is also placed behind the feeder. Place the queen bee in the rearing and feeding area, and adjust the bee path to a standard bee path of 8-12 mm. The feeder used in this example is existing technology and can be purchased directly on the market. A feeder with a thickness of 5 cm is used in this example.

[0027] Step 5: During the camellia flowering period, a bee colony using the device from step 4 is placed in the camellia planting area to pollinate the camellia flowers. Every 3-7 days, the automatic nectar separation comb is removed, and the collection trough at the bottom of the comb is removed. The collected camellia nectar in the collection trough is removed, and the nectar holes set in step 2 are repeated. The cells are pierced again, and the collection trough from which the camellia nectar has been removed is then attached to the comb to form the automatic nectar separation comb. The automatic nectar separation comb is returned to the camellia nectar collection area in the hive, and the syrup in the feeder is replenished. Step 5 is repeated until the camellia flowering period ends. A new comb can be used when repeating step 2 to make the automatic nectar separation comb. Alternatively, the comb portion of a previously used automatic nectar separation comb can be re-pierced with a long needle to clear the nectar holes.

[0028] The syrup formula in step 4 is white sugar: water: sodium benzoate = 6:4:0.002, calculated by weight. The maximum usage of the sodium benzoate is no more than 0.2g.

[0029] This embodiment utilizes the beehive device of Example 1, employing a hive divided into a tea nectar collection area and a larval feeding area. The queen bee is placed in the larval feeding area, and worker bees collect tea nectar and then regurgitate it onto the honeycomb in the nectar collection area. The collected tea nectar automatically flows downward into the collection trough below. Attracted by the queen's pheromone, the worker bees pass through the vertical queen excluder and enter the larval feeding area, where they consume the syrup in the feeder. This allows the worker bees to pollinate the tea nectar while preventing the worker bees and larvae from consuming tea nectar, thereby preventing poisoning and significantly improving the worker bee survival rate. While maintaining the worker bee survival rate, the pollination efficiency of tea nectar is significantly improved.

[0030] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not limiting. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that various changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A device for pollinating oil-tea bees, comprising a nest box, wherein the front side panel of the nest box is provided with a nest door, and wherein: A camellia nectar collection area and an insect breeding and feeding area are provided in the nest box from the front side plate to the rear side plate. The camellia nectar collection area and the insect breeding and feeding area are separated by a vertical queen excluder. The camellia nectar collection area is communicated with the nest door.

2. The device for bee pollination of oil-tea tea according to claim 1, wherein: The oil-tea camellia nectar collecting area is provided with an automatic nectar separation comb, and the insect breeding and feeding area is provided with an insect breeding comb and a feeder.

3. The device for bee pollination of oil-tea tea as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The automatic nectar separation comb includes a comb part located at the upper part and a collecting trough located at the lower part. The bottom of each honeycomb on the comb part is provided with a nectar flow hole. The collecting trough is provided at the lower part of the comb part and the width of the collecting trough is not less than the width of the comb part.

4. The device for bee pollination of oil-tea tea as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: In the insect breeding and feeding area, the insect breeding honeycomb is arranged close to the vertical queen excluder, the feeder is arranged away from the vertical queen excluder, and an insulation plate is further arranged on the other side of the feeder.

5. The device for bee pollination of oil-tea tea as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: The automatic nectar separation comb and the insect rearing comb are more than one, and the distances between the automatic nectar separation comb, the vertical queen excluder, the insect rearing comb, the feeder and the insulation plate are 8-12 mm.

6. The device for bee pollination of oil-tea tea according to claim 5, characterized in that: The feeder has a thickness of 5 cm and is the same size as the honeycomb.

7. A method for pollinating oil-tea bees using the device of claim 3, 4, 5 or 6, comprising the following steps: Step 1: Select a bee colony with more than 4 honeycombs, remove half of the honeycombs, and place the remaining honeycombs in the back half of the hive; Step 2: Making an automatic nectar separation comb: Subtract 3-5 cm from the lower half of an empty comb. The remaining empty comb is the automatic nectar separation comb. Use a long needle with a diameter of 1.2-1.5 mm and a length of at least 250 mm to penetrate from the lower beam or upper beam of the comb along a row of cells to form nectar flow holes at the bottom of the cells. Repeat this process to form nectar flow holes in all cells of the comb. Finally, install a collection trough at the bottom of the comb to form an automatic nectar separation comb. Place the automatic nectar separation comb in the front half of the hive. Step 3: Install a vertical queen excluder in the middle of the nest box to separate the brood combs and the automatic nectar separation combs, thereby forming a camellia nectar collection area with the automatic nectar separation combs and an insect rearing and feeding area with the brood combs; Step 4: Fill the feeder with 5 kg of syrup and place the feeder in the larval feeding area. The feeder is placed behind the brood comb, and an insulation board is placed behind the feeder. The queen bee is placed in the larval feeding area and the bee path is adjusted to a standard bee path of 8-12 mm. Step 5. During the flowering period of camellia oleifera, place the bee colony in step 4 in the camellia oleifera planting area and allow the bee colony to pollinate the camellia oleifera. Take out the automatic nectar separation comb every 3-7 days, and remove the collecting tank at the bottom of the automatic nectar separation comb. Take out the camellia nectar collected in the collecting tank, repeat the nectar hole setting steps in step 2, pierce the honeycomb again, and then install the collecting tank from which the camellia nectar has been taken out onto the comb part to form an automatic nectar separation comb. Install the automatic nectar separation comb back into the camellia nectar collection area in the hive, and replenish the syrup in the feeder. Repeat step 5 until the flowering period of camellia oleifera ends.

8. The method for pollinating oil-tea bees as claimed in claim 7, wherein: The syrup formula is white sugar: water: sodium benzoate = 6:4:0.002, calculated by weight.

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