Fruit could survive in a bee-less world

In a world without bees, research carried out by an award winning Te Puna company may help our fruit industries survive.
Steve Saunders of Pollen Plus said bees are already under threat from varroa mite and a host of other pests and diseases. "If colony collapse disorder, which is prevalent in Europe and the United States, ever reaches New Zealand our bees could be wiped out."
That is part of the reason the company is working with Plant and Food Research to trial flower recognition technology which has sensors to detect open flowers in the canopy, and application nozzles to directly target and apply the pollen to the flowers in liquid form.
"It has the potential to greatly reduce the volume of pollen required to pollinate one hectare."
Such technology enabling a range of fruit crops including kiwifruit, apples and avocados to be pollinated mechanically could be needed if honey bee number are dramatically reduced.
It is that kind of forward thinking and innovation which saw Pollen Plus win the United Travel Corporate Emerging Exporter of the Year and become a finalist in the Page and Macare Innovation in Export in the 2010 BNZ Partners-sponsored Bay of Plenty Export Awards.
However, exports account for only about 40 per cent of the company's business, Steve said.
"Exporting came about because we had pollen from our all-male orchards over and above what was needed by New Zealand growers who are always our priority. Much of the pollen is going to Zespri Gold growers in Japan, Korea and Italy."
To keep pollen viable, it is frozen and transported by airfreight in special containers. Before it leaves the country the pollen is independently tested by Assure Quality for the disease Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae which is causing problems for kiwifruit growers in Italy.
As well as pollen, the company is also exporting equipment to improve pollen application.
"In Japan for instance pollination is carried out by picking flowers from a male vine at the back of a small orchard and hand pollinating the female flowers. Our technology means they can introduce less labour intensive means of pollination."
Even though New Zealand orchardists have access to top quality hives and bees are responsible for most kiwifruit pollination, Steve said supplementary pollination is still required to improve fruit size and yield.
" When growers were receiving $6 a tray it didn't matter if the average yield was 6000 trays a hectare. Today growers are rewarded for quality, including size and taste and growers of green kiwifruit need at least 10,000 trays a hectare to be profitable, so good pollination is important."
Supplementary pollination can lift production in colder areas of orchards were bees don't like to work, or in seasons when conditions are not ideal for the insects.
"However, not all problems with quality and yield can be blamed on pollination. Other factors such as the stress vines are under can influence flower quality so that no matter if they are fully pollinated, they will not produce top quality fruit."
Pollen Plus is carrying out research to determine which factors in fruit yield and quality are directly affected by pollination and which are not.