Honeybees are useful as pollinators of the dioecious cloudberry, a high-value northern berry

• Published in: Acta agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and plant science Vol. 61; no. sup1; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Naess, S. Kristine, Chagnon, Madeleine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01-11-2011; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Bogs; Comparative studies; Diptera; Fruit set; Fruits; honey bees; northernberry; Peatlands; Plant reproduction; Pollen; pollen loads; Pollination; Pollinators; Rubus chamaemorus; seed set; wildberry; Canada; Norway; Scandinavia; Finland
• ISSN: 1651-1913; 0906-4710; 1651-1913
• DOI: 10.1080/09064710.2011.578075

The cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) is a dioecious plant growing in northern peatlands which produces a uniquely flavoured berry highly valued in Scandinavia and other northern regions. Pollination in the wild is accomplished mainly by flies. In most seasons pollination is insufficient leading to poor fruit set and fruit size. Honeybees have been used by cloudberry producers both in Norway and in Finland to increase cloudberry pollination. In a comparative study between four bogs supplied with two honeybee hives and four control bogs without honeybees in north-eastern Québec, Canada, honeybees were shown to collect significant quantities of cloudberry pollen, and pollen loads, fruit set, seed set and cloudberry yields were all significantly increased in bogs with hives compared with those in the control bogs.