Comparison between the effectiveness of honey bee (Apis mellifera) and bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) as pollinators of greenhouse sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum)

The study compared A. mellifera and B. terrestris, which are the most commo n commercial pollinators in Europe and Israel, in their effectiveness as sw eet pepper pollinators under greenhouse conditions. The average yield in th e honey bee plot (total of 22.6 kg per rows) was similar to the yield in th e bumble bee plot (23.4 kg). Those two treatments showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher by 30 and 36%, respectively, than the control plot (without po llinators, 17.5 kg). Increase in fruit weight contribute little to the incr eased yield in the plots with pollinators. On the other hand, there were si gnificant (P <0.05) differences among the numbers of Grade A fruits: 107.0 fruits per counted row segment in the honey bee sector, 106.7 in the bumble bee sector and only 82.5 fruits in the control sector. The visiting rates of both pollinators were very similar. According to the current study, it s eems that honey bee and bumble bee pollination have similar positive effect s on sweet pepper yield.