Co‐Flowering Plant Species in a Glasshouse Boost Both Strawberry Production and Bee Health

ABSTRACT

Pollination is crucial to production of most fruits and vegetables but must be managed alongside plant growth and pest control, making it important to understand any trade‐offs between crop management and pollinator health. A key arena is protected cropping, which facilitates crop growth and pest control, but poses challenges for pollination. For example, managed bees in glasshouses may suffer from an unnaturally narrow diet. Co‐flowering plants can be grown alongside crops but may compete for pollinators and thus reduce crop pollination. To investigate these issues, we studied glasshouse strawberries pollinated by managed stingless bees. In chambers with and without co‐flowering plants, we monitored bee activity and hive weight, flower visitation and strawberry production. In co‐flowering chambers, bees made approximately 1.5 times more visits to strawberry flowers than to co‐flowering species, and still visited strawberry flowers more often than in the monoculture treatment. Further, this resulted in higher quality strawberries with more fertilised achenes. Crucially, hive weight and bee activity were also significantly higher in the co‐flowering treatment, where all hives maintained or gained weight, while control hives all lost weight. Our study provides a rare example of clear synergy between managing for bee health and crop pollination, leading to a “win‐win” in glasshouse systems.