Fresh from the Field - Agri-Bytes Oct. 2008 - Fresh from the Field - Agri-Bytes

Agri-Bytes

In This Edition:

- Real-life bee CSIs search for cause of colony collapse disorder
- Nominate a deserving leader for a ‘Potato Man' award
- Penn State University research takes the fright out of pumpkin variety choices

Real-life bee CSIs search for cause of colony collapse disorder

Lyle Johnston, a commercial beekeeper who splits his time between California and Colorado, is excited about what he sees in his hives.

“Right now, the bees just look terrific; they’re just packed in there at the 12- to 14-frame level,” says Johnston, who uses Madera, Calif., as his home base. To put that in perspective, most beekeepers consider an eight-frame hive average.

“I can’t remember bees any better.”

Johnston also has a honey packing shed near Fort Collins, Colo., and runs bees near Rocky Ford, Colo.

But he admits the period between November and February will be critical as this is when about one-third of the nation’s managed hives have mysteriously died the past two winters.

The malady, where bees apparently leave the hives never to return, has been dubbed colony collapse disorder.

First brought to light by a Pennsylvania beekeeper in 2006, the problem has garnered the attention of hundreds of scientists nationwide and even the private sector, such as Häagen-Daz ice cream.

During the 2007-08 winter, 36 percent of managed bee colonies died, says Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a senior Extension entomologist with Penn State University and acting Pennsylvania state apiarist in Harrisburg.

“That’s an astronomical amount of bees,” he told attendees of the Almond Board of California’s recent Bee Task Force meeting in Modesto, Calif.

Although bees may be best known for honey production, their true value is in their pollination services, vanEngelsdorp says.

A 2000 Cornell University study estimated that bee pollination was worth more than $14 billion to U.S. crops in 1998, the latest year for which figures are available. Numerous crops, from almonds to cucurbits to apples to seed crops, rely on bees to transfer pollen.

Last year, the nation had about 2.55 million managed colonies. Based on current projections, there won’t be enough colonies in the country to pollinate all of the crops by 2012, vanEngelsdorp says.

Without an exact cause, researchers and beekeepers base their colony collapse diagnosis on symptoms, he says.

The first one is abandonment of the hive with an absence of dead bees.

When bees are present, most of them are young, the colony is queenless—also known as queenright—and there’s insufficient brood cover. What these three symptoms mean is the adult population disappeared within the last two to three weeks, vanEngelsdorp says.

With the help of the Apiary Inspectors of America, vanEngelsdorp and Jeff Pettis, a bee researcher with the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md., surveyed about one-third of the nation’s beekeepers last winter about their hive health.

When respondents answered they had dead colonies, the researchers asked the beekeepers’ opinions about the cause.

The primary reason was poor queens, followed by starvation and varroa mite. CCD was fourth on the list.

Migratory bees, or colonies that are moved from state to state to follow the crops, and stationary colonies appeared to have similar mortality rates, vanEngelsdorp says.

Researchers have identified several pathogens and pests that may play a role in the rapid decline. Among those are varroa mite, Sacbrood disease, Israeli acute paralysis virus, pesticides, two types of Fallbrood disease and two species of the Nosema fungi.

But vanEngelsdorp warns about drawing hasty conclusions.

Some researchers, for example, suspect that Israeli acute paralysis virus is the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back. They say that other parasites or diseases weaken bees, then the virus throws the lethal blow.

But vanEngelsdorp says a joint U.S. Department of Agriculture and Apiary Inspectors of America survey doesn’t support that theory.

Of the colonies surveyed, all of the ones with CCD also had Kashmir bee virus, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. But 47 percent of the colonies with Israeli acute paralysis virus showed no problems.

vanEngelsdorp also is looking at entombed pollen, which is marked by black caps below the surface of the
combs and red pollen inside.

Of the hives sampled, 43 percent that had the condition in June were dead by November compared with only 20 percent mortality for colonies without entombed pollen.

Statistically, he says that’s a 3:1 risk.

“This does not mean that entombed pollen causes the bees to die,” vanEngelsdorp says. “It could be a symptom of something else that caused the bees to die.”

For more information, visit Project Apis m., a nonprofit organization that represents beekeepers nationally.

Nominate a deserving leader for a ‘Potato Man’ award

Karlstad, Minn., potato grower Justin Dagen (left) congratulates Burlington, Wash., grower Roger Knutzen, who received the 2007 Potato Man for All Seasons award at the National Potato Council’s annual meeting in Marco Island, Fla.

The Grower, along with its sister publication, The Packer, presents the Potato Man of the Year or Potato Man for All Seasons award annually to an individual who has helped better the potato industry.

The Potato Man of the Year award recognizes someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty during 2008. The Potato Man for All Seasons award is presented to someone who has spent his or her lifetime bettering the potato industry.

Past Potato Man of the Year recipients include Chuck Gunnerson, Alan Olberding and Albert Wada.

Past winners of the Potato Man for All Seasons include Lynn Olsen, Duane Preston and last year’s recipient, Roger Knutzen.

Judges base their decisions on nominations submitted by growers, researchers and other industry officials. Without the input of the industry, the awards would not be possible.

So take a few minutes and fill out the nomination form, which can be downloaded here. The submission deadline is Dec. 1.

The winner will be announced at the National Potato Council’s annual awards banquet, Jan. 10, 2009, in San Antonio, Texas.

For more information, contact Grower editor Vicky Boyd at (209) 571-0414 or vlboyd@att.net.

Penn State University research takes the fright out of pumpkin variety choices

When a school class visits a local pumpkin patch, it always seems the smallest child chooses the largest squash.

But for growers, choosing what variety or hybrid to plant from the hundreds of seed company offerings can be much spookier, says Michael Orzolek, a vegetable crops professor at Penn State University in University Park.

Since 2000, he has conducted field trials to help ease growers’ apprehensions.

"We wanted to help growers make an informed choice of what to grow based on the varieties available," Orzolek says. "The choice of varieties has become very extensive. There are probably 150 to 200 on the market for growers to choose from.

“Unfortunately for the growers, about six major seed companies were coming out with 10 new varieties a year. Obviously a grower couldn't buy 60 varieties and see what grew best in his or her field. "

The trials begin with Orzolek contacting seed companies to otain seeds of newly released and experimental hybrids. In June, he plants 30 to 40 seeds of each variety in three replicated plots, according to a university news release.

Data collected includes stand estalishment, plant growth, fruit production, and insect and disease susceptibility.

At the end of the season in mid-September, each plot is harvested, fruit counted and weighed, and rated as to marketability.

"We look at the establishment data, growth data, disease data and production data—how many, size, color," he says. "Then we make our recommendations based on that."

Growers can then make decisions among small (1-5 pounds), medium (12-22 pounds) and large (25-50 pounds) and then choose from varieties within those weight classes.

Orzolek presents his findings at local Extension meetings, the annual Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Hershey, Pa., and in the annual Penn State Extension vegetable guide.