Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris is widely used to pollinate various crops, especially tomato, in greenhouses. Mason bee, Osmia cornifrons, which is using as apple pollinator. Here we investigated characteristics on pollinating activity of B. terrestris and O. conifrons at different weather conditions in apple orchard. The foraging activity of O. conifrons was more sensitive than that of B. terrestris at weather conditions including temperature, illumination intensity and wind velocity. The pollinating activity of O. conifrons was very low than that of B. terrestris at a low temperature, cloudy, rainy and windy weather. Therefore, Our results indicated that B. terrestris was suitable for apple pollinator than O. conifrons, especially in low temperature and bad weather.

Currently, flies are used to pollinate Welsh onion for seed production. However, the use of flies for pollination has caused problems in Welsh onion seed production due to sanitation issues, smell, and the difficulty of feeding the flies. Therefore, we investigated the effects of pollination with bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), flies (e.g., houseflies, flesh flies, blue bottle flies), mason bees (Osmia cornifrons), honeybees (Apis mellifera) and blowflies (Lucilia illustris) in a small net screen house (2.2m×1.7m×2.5m) for onion seed production. Although the number of flies was about three times than that of other insect pollinators, fies and bumblebees showed equivalent pollination ratios, but the remaining three insect species showed lower values. For the percentage of seed set per umbel, the number of seeds per flower and umbel, bumblebees and flies showed similar results. These results showed that pollination by bumblebees can be used as an alternative approach in breeding Welsh onion. An analysis of the most appropriate colony of bumblebees for use as pollinators for breeding Welsh onion in a small net screen house showed that colony of fifty to eighty bees was the most efficient level. The visiting time on the flower and spending time from a flower to another flower of B. terrestris worker on small net screen house was 2.2 seconds and 1.8 seconds, respectively.

Jeon-Nam province has the largest number of managed honey bee(Apis cerana) colonies before 2009 years ago, which produce the highest quantity of honey in the Korea; however, almost colony were collapsed by Sacbrood Virus(SBV) in jeon-nam apiaries. We thus conducted a molecular survey of honey bee RNA viruses, Nosema microsporidia, Foul broods and fungal disease(Chalk brood and Stone brood) associated with environmental conditions in apiaries and differential A. cerana hives in Joun-nam province. We found the presence of black queen cell virus (BQCV), Israel Acute Paralysis Virus and Nosema apis. Sacbrood virus(SBV) was detected in the tested samples. Our results demonstrate that honey bee RNA viruses and N. apis are present in joen-nam province apiaries, and some might be related environment conditions(temperature and moisture).

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate various greenhouse crops. Among the different bumblebee species, Bombus ignitus is indigenous to Korea, China, Japan and Russia. B. ignitus undergoes one generation per year, and artificial hibernation is essential for year-round rearing of the bumblebee. Keeping the queens under low-temperature conditions for several months is an effective method for terminating their diapause and promoting colony development. In the present study, we investigated how cold temperature affects the artificial hibernation of B. ignitus queens. Under chilling temperatures of -2.5°C, 0°C, 2.5°C and 5°C with constant humidity >80%, the queens stored at 2.5°C exhibited the highest survival rates, which were 74.0% at one month, 67.0% at two months, 60.0% at three months, 46.0% at 4 months, 33.0% at 5 months and 24.0% at 6 months. Lower survival rates were observed at 0°C, 5°C, 7.5°C and 12.5°C. At 2.5°C the colony developmental characteristics after diapause were 1.2- to 1.5-fold greater than those when queens were stored at 5°C. Thus, 2.5°C and 70% R.H. were the most favorable chilling temperature and humidity conditions for terminating the diapause of B. ignitus queens.

To improvement the fruit quality of the korean raspberry and the blueberry fruit, 3 bee species, Bombus terrestris, Apis mellifera, and Osmia cornifrons were used for pollination. The rates of korean raspberry fruit set in the case of pollination with B. terrestris, A. mellifera, and O. cornifrons were 83.1%, 80.5% and 77.5%, respectively. In addition, the rates of fruit set in the case of the untreated control and the control(pollination under natural conditions) were 36.2% and 76.0%, respectively. The products of korean raspberry fruit pollinated with B. terrestris had the highest quality, with a fruit diameter of 19.5±0.85mm; fruit weight, 2.7±0.32g; sugar content, 11.2±1.48 Brix%; seed no., 86.8±10.15. The rate of productivity increase obtained using the B. terrestris was 21% greater than that obtained using natural pollination. And, the rate of blueberry fruit setting pollinated with B. terrestris, A. mellifera, O. cornifrons were showed 87.7%, 89.6%, 66.5% respectively. And, rate of fruit setting of the untreated control and the control(natural condition pollination) were 15.4% and 80.3%. The rate of productivity increase obtained using the B. terrestris was 9%∼17% greater than that obtained using natural pollination.

Bumblebees are important pollinators of crops and wildflowers in northern temperate regions. The number of bumblebee species has declined in recent decades, particularly, in developing regions. Here, we investigated the distribution and floral preferences of founder bumblebee queens that were collected between 2000 and 2012 in Korea with the intention of gathering information useful in the conservation of native bumblebee populations. A total of 13,130 overwintered bumblebee queens were collected at 63 locations from 8 provinces; the collected bumblebees consisted of five species of native bumblebees (Bombus ardens, B. ignitus, B. hypocrita spporoensis, B. ussurensis and B. consobrinus wittenburgi) and one species of exotic bumblebee (B. terrestris). The dominant species were Bombus ardens Smith and Bombus ignitus Smith, which accounted for 7,462 (56.8%) and 3,725 (28.4%) of the collected bumblebees, respectively. As a proportional distribution of the founder bumblebee queens that were collected, B. ignitus was the most common (9.8%-78.5%), followed by B. ardens (9.8%-66.1%), B. hypocrita spporoensis (0.9%-31.4%), B. ussurensis (0.8%-22.2%), B. consobrinus wittenburgi (0.1%-3.8%) and B. terrestris (0.0%-1.1%). The bumblebee queens foraged from 7 families of plants and 18 plant species. B. ignitus bumblebees were primarily collected from Prunus serrulata Matsumura and Corydalis speciosa Max, and B. ardens bumblebees were primarily collected from Rhodldendron mucronulatum Turcz and Prunus yedoensis.

To substitute for bluebottle fly, Chrysomyia megacephala which is being used for pollinator in mango fruit, and improve the pollinating effect of mango fruit which is also being increased as high value added crop recently in Jeju island of korea, 2 kinds of pollinator were used in analyzing and surveying of foraging activities on mango fruit in Seogwipo province. This study was conducted using 3 species of pollinator, Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Chrysomyia megacephala with 3 treatment in vinyl-house condition respectively. Species of mango fruit, Irwin, was used in this experiment. A number of foraging activity of Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris in hive showed highest 11 AM, and showed normal foraging activity in high temperature condition(28℃). Pollinating ratio of Bombus terrestris was shown 100% and over 95% in case of Apis mellifera. This ratio suggest that the 2 species of insects is effective as pollinator on mango fruit compared with bluebottle fly. Daily pollinating activity of Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris was shown peak in 11 AM, but showed even activity from 9 AM to 3 PM in case of Chrysomyia megacephala. The pollinating characteristics of 3 species depends on illuminance but temperature, especially in case of Bombus terrestris was more affected by change of illuminance. Visiting time of Bombus terrestris and Apis mellifera on this flower was shown 2.8 and 3.4 seconds respectively. But Chrysomyia megacephala showed longer 10 times with 32.5 seconds than other insects. This results suppose that Chrysomyia megacephala showed as resting behavior for almost time on the flower not foraging activity to pollinate.

Many bumblebee species have declined in number in recent decades, particularly in developing regions. Widespread declines of bumblebee species threaten the pollination levels of both wildflowers and crops. Here, we investigated the body weight and colony-developmental characteristics of Korean native bumblebee (B. ignitus) queens collected from 2000 to 2010 for conservation of native bumblebees for breeding. The average weight of 6,852 queens was 0.77 ± 0.44 g. The weight of B. ignitus queens collected in 2005 was the greatest, 0.87 ± 0.12 g, which was 1.0–1.3-fold heavier than any other year. The average oviposition rate was 81.6 ± 10.7%, and 2004 showed the highest rate, 95.0%. This value corresponded to 1.1-1.6-fold increases over the queens collected in the other years. The average rate of colony foundation was 60.9 ± 11.0%. Queens in 2008 exhibited the best performance, 75.4%, which was 1.0-1.9-fold higher than the other years. The rate of progeny-queen production averaged 27.0 ± 9.4% (Fig. 5) and peaked in 2001 at 43.2%; this value was 1.1–4.7-fold higher than other years. The average number of queens produced and number of generations begotten by queens was 27.6 ± 10.1% and 4.8 ± 2.0, respectively. Queens in 2000 averaged 9 generations of offspring, which was 1.1-3.1-fold greater than other years. These results indicate that the colony-developmental characteristics of the collected queens changed significantly between 2000 and 2010. In addition, there was no correlation between body weight and number of queens collected, although body weight was affected by collection year. Since 2008, the colony- developmental characteristics of queens have worsened.

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate various crops, especially tomato, in greenhouses and fields. Here, we investigated whether different sugar solutions have any effects on the oviposition and colony development of Bombus terrestris queens. The types of sugar solution used were a white sugar solution, brown sugar solution, dark brown sugar solution, and prepared sugar solution; all solution contained with a 40% sugar concentration and 0.3% sorbic acid. Among these sugar solutions, B. terrestris queens reared on the white sugar solution exhibited the best results; the rates of oviposition, colony foundation and progeny-queen production were75.0± 11.0, 33.0 ± 9.6 and 21.7 ± 7.3, respectively, which corresponded to 1.1-33.0-fold increases over the results of other sugar solutions. Queens reared on the prepared sugar solution did not found any colonies. The death rate within one month was lowest for the queens reared on the white sugar solution at 26.1 ± 10.9%, which was 1.2–2.0-fold lower than the rate for the other sugar solutions. Furthermore, the numbers of progeny produced by queens reared on the white sugar solution, 131.4 ± 38.8 workers and 51.0 ± 40.6 queens, were also higher, corresponding to 1.1-1.2-fol d increases compared to queens raised on the other sugar solutions. Therefore, the white sugar solution was the favorable sugar solution for the egg-laying and colony developmental characteristics of B. terrestris queens.

To increase the fruit quality and productivity of the apricot, 2 species of insects, Apis mellifer, and Bombus terrestris were used for pollination in apricot field in Yeongcheon province. This study was conducted using 3 kinds of methods for pollination effect, natural condition, net-house treatment and control method. Also this experiment carried out in 2 places, vinyl-house and field condition. In case of field treatment of Apis mellifera, heating lamp experiment was added in net-house to find out the reason for harmful efficacy of low temperature early in the spring. Species of apricot, Mangum, was used in this experiment. A number of foraging activity of Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris in vinyl-house showed higher than in field condition. But after stoping heating, showed low efficacy after showing peak in 1 PM. In field, Apis mellifera showed peak of foraging activity from 1 to 3PM, heating lamp experiment of field condition showed peak in 3 PM and then lowest tendency to evening suddenly. The fruit set rate of Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris in vinyl-house showed higher with 92% and 89% respectively than control with 83%. In field, heating lamp treatment of Apis melliferawas was highest with 28% compared to Bombus terrestris with 25% and control with 15%. This results suppose that apricot in field was to be harmed by low temperature and frost in blooming time early in spring

Commercially managed bees are available for pollination services and are used in large commercial fields, small gardens, or enclosures such as greenhouses and screen houses. We investigated the use rate and number of commercial bees such as bumblebees, honeybees and mason bees for the pollination of 10 major horticultural crops and fruit trees in Korea. The use rates of bumblebees for 10 major horticultural crops and fruit trees were approximately 7.9% and 2.8% in 2009, respectively. The use numbers of bumblebees as pollinators was more than 64,345 colonies which included 51,400 for 10 major horticultural crops and 12,945 colonies for 10 major fruit trees, in 2009. The use rate of honeybees as a pollinator for 10 major horticultural crops in greenhouses and fruit trees were approximately 48.0% and 7.7%, respectively. The number of hives used for 10 horticultural crops and fruit trees was estimated to be 305,216 and 32,386, respectively. The number of honeybees hives used for pollination of 10 major horticultural crops and fruit trees was estimated to be 337,602. The use numbers of honeybees as pollinators was more than 337,602 hives in 10 major horticultural crops and fruit trees, in 2009. The number of honeybee hives used as pollinators of outside crops, including many fruits and vegetables, was estimated to be more than 500,000. The value of honeybees as pollinators was estimated to be more than 8.5% to 15.0% of total Korean beekeeping products. The rate of use of mason bees for 10 major fruit trees was approximately 3.3%. The number of mason bees individuals used for 10 major fruit trees was estimated to be 1,350,000. The value of commercial insect pollinators in 2009 in Korea was estimated at more than $45 million.

We investigated nesting and foraging behavior of Korean mason bees, Osmia cornifrons Radoszkowski, during apple orchard pollination. When O. cornifrons was nesting, the oviposit and store pollens were taken an average 118.54±15.88 second and constructing cell partition was an average 109.33±62.09 second. At foraging, collecting pollens was timed at an average 699.89±81.87 second, and carrying mud was measured an average 464.88±151.17 second. Nesting and foraging behavior of O. cornifrons were influenced by weather conditions, especially, temperature, luminance and wind. When the luminance was more than 20,000lux and temperature was more than 20℃, O. cornifrons was more actively nesting and foraging. But, nesting and foraging of O. cornifrons were rapidly dropped when the wind blew at the speed more than 5m/s. The correlation analysis showed that foraging behavior is weak positive correlation with luminance, temperature and nesting. On the other hand, there is negative correlation between wind and the behavior of O. cornifrons. The most effective factor was luminance among the factors affecting the weather condition by regression analysis. Therefore, if weather conditions is low luminance, low temperature and strong wind, it will be better not to use O. cornifrons during apple pollination.

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate various crops, especially tomato, in greenhouses and fields. An artificial hibernation is essential for year-round rearing of the bumblebee that undergoes one generation per year. Here, we investigated whether a cold temperature and humidity affect artificial hibernation of the bumblebee queen Bombus terrestris. In cold temperature regimes of 0℃, 2.5℃, 5℃, 7.5℃ or 12.5℃ under a constant humidity 70% over, the queens stored at 2.5℃ was the best performance in survival rate, which was 74.0% in one month, 67.0% in two months, 60.0% in three months, 46.0% in 4 months, 33.0% in 5 months, and 24.0% in 6 months and lowed in the order of 0℃, 5℃, 7.5℃ and 12.5℃. And also, the colony developmental characteristics after diapause was 1.2-1.5 fold higher than those at queens stored at 5℃. In terms of cold humidity, the queens hibernated at 70% under 2.5℃ was the best performance in survival rate, which was 93.3±3.4% in one month, 83.3±0.0% in two months, 76.7±0.0% in 3 months and 36.7±12.1% in 5 months and lowed in the order of 50% and 90%. The rates of oviposition, colony foundation and progeny-queen production of queens hibernated at 70% were 80.8%, 30.8% and 30.8%, respectively. These values correspond to 1.7-3.3 fold that at queens stored at 50%. Therefore, 2.5℃ and 70% R.H. were the favorable cold temperature and humidity conditions for diapauses-break of B. terrestirs queen.

To increase the fruit quality of the Japanese apricot, 3 species of insects, Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia cornifrons were used for pollination in Japanese apricot field in Jinju and Sancheong province. And also economical effect for crops of Japanese apricot fruit pollinated with same insect was analyzed. This study was also conducted using 3 kinds of methods for pollination effect, natural condition, net-house and control method. Because blooming period of Japanese apricot was different from the other fruit tree(Blooming time of Japanese apricot shows always in the middle of the March), foraging behavior of insects used in this examination showed different tendency each other. Especially O. cornifrons was not adapted to wind and lower temperature compared with A. mellifera and B. terrestris in this field condition. Rate of fruit set pollinated with A. mellifera and B. terrestris was showed 14.9% and 13% respectively. But O. cornifrons was lower than another 2 kinds of insects with 6% of fruit setting rate. Total rate of fruit set of Japanese apricot showed lower tendency compared with other kinds of fruit tree with under 30%. Quality of fruit pollinated with A. mellifera and B. terrestris showed higher than O. cornifrons in natural field condition in fruit weight. Economical income of Japanese apricot fruit producted by A. mellifera showed highest with 185% of benefit effect, and B. terrestris with 143% compared with natural field condition.

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate crops in greenhouses and fields. Here, we investigated whether different wake-up treatments during a short period of 1-3 days just before indoor rearing has any effects on oviposition and colony development of CO2-treated Bombus ignitus queens and artificially hibernated B. terrestris queens The wake-up regimes were defined as 16L for 1 day (16L-1), 16L per day for 3 days (16L-3), 24L for 1 day (24L-1), or 24D for 1 day (24D-1). Among these wake-up treatments, the oviposition rate and preoviposition period of B. ignitus queens reared at 24L-1 were 16.7-25.1% higher and 1.0-3.5 days shorter than other wake-up treatments. B. terrestris queens reared at 24L-1 also showed the best results for egg-laying characteristics, which were 8.9-18.8% higher for oviposition and 0.6-3.5 days shorter for preovipostion period than other wake-up treatments. Furthermore, B. terrestris queens reared at 24L-1 were 17.5% and 13.8% higher in rate of colony foundation and queen production, respectively, than other wake-up treatments. These results show that the most favorable wake-up treatment just before rearing for egg-laying and colony developmental characteristics of B. ignitus and B. terrestris queens was 24L-1. Overall, our findings indicate that a wake-up treatment just before rearing was effective for colony initiation and colony development of bumblebee queens.

We investigated the distribution and habitat characterization of Korean Osmia spp. in apple orchard of 32 localities during 2005 to 2008. A total of 6,737 Osmia spp. were collected, consisting of six species, which was Osmia cornifrons, O. pedicornis, O. taurus, O. benefica, O. satoi and O. jacoti. The rate of bee nested was 11.7%. Among collected 32 localities, Choongju showed the most collecting rate among other localities, which was 22.4% and 17.5% for Yeongju and 14.9% for Geochang. In case of collected six Osmia spp, O. cornifrons was 60.2%, which was the dominant species and O. pedicornis was 20.4% and O. taurus was 10.8%, respectively. In case of sex ratio, O. cornifrons was 1 : 2.7 and 1 : 5.6 for O. pedicornis and 1 : 2.3 for O. taurus. Osmia spp. was more collected at habitat conditions within apple orchard with plentiful pollens place and abundant water.

We investigated the mating age for sexual maturity and sperm quality of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris queens and males. In the mating age of sexual maturity of queen, mating rate was 6.7% at just emergence, 85.0% at 10 days of emergence, and decreased thereafter. In case of mating age of sexual maturity of male, mating rate was 38.3% at just emergence and 62.5% to 75.0% at 7 days to 20 days of emergence. The colony development at aging of B. terrestris queen and male was a similar tendency to the mating age of sexual maturity. In case of multiple mating, B. terrestris male was mated by 4 times, which was 74.3% for one time, 50.0% for two times, 22.9% for three times and 8.6% for four times. The number of spermatozoa was increased as the age of male was older until 25days after emergence. The number of spermatozoa of non-mated males of one day and 3 days after emergence was higher at 1.2 and 1.7 times than that of mated males and 18.9 and 36.6 times than that in spermatheca of mated queen. Our results indicate that period favorable for artificial insemination of B. terrestris was from 6 days after emergence for queen and 7 days after emergence for male.

The current status of insect pollinator use was surveyed. Honeybee was larger than mason bee and bumblebee in average use area per farm household at kinds of insect pollinator. Insect pollinator was used at 19 crops. Among them, tomato was the most used crop, which was 44.9%, and in order to apple 26.7%, strawberry 13.1%, red-pepper 7.7% and watermelon 3.7%. In the use of insect pollinators, bumblebee, which was 56.9%, was higher than honeybee (31.3%) and mason bee (11.8%). The most farmers were a positive intention except for 1.5% of farmer in the use of insect pollinator for crop pollination. The best advantage in insect pollinator use was improvement of seed setting percentage, which was 28.3% and the worst problem was low activity at bad weather, which was 25.8%. And also, 97% of farmers have an intention to use continuously insect pollinator.

In order to select the superior lines of bumblebee queens(Bombus terrestris) in oviposition and colony development which has some characteristics of diapause with adult type, undiapaused bumblebee queens of 3rd generation were surveyed in room condition compared to queen treated with CO2 and artificial hibernation. Oviposition rate and preovipositional days of undiapaused queens was lower in efficacy with 46.7% and shows same trend in preovipositional days with 52.8 days than the other treatment with CO2 anesthesia and artificial hibernation with 60.0%, 86.7%, 26.1 days and 26.6 days respectively. In continuous experiment, we also surveyed ovipositional characteristic and colony development of three types of queens emergenced from undiapaused queens and treated queens with CO2 and artificial hibernation. Although undiapaused queens in 1st generation were more effective in the same condition than treated queens, but the undiapaused queens of 3rd generation emergenced from undiapaused queens of 2nd generation were very low trend in all checkpoints compared with treated queens in same generation. This results was shown that the queens treated with CO2 or artificial hibernation need to be in successive mass rearing continuously in the year round.

The large bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, which is indigenous to Europe and is used extensively for high-value crop pollination, has been artificially introduced throughout the world. Here we show the interspecific cross-mating between bumblebee species, B. terrestris and B. ignitus under laboratory conditions. The mating and oviposition rates of interspecific cross-mating of B. terrestris queen with B. ignitus male are higher than those of intraspecific matings of B. ignitus. Furthermore, the competitive copulation experiment indicates that cross-mating of a B. ignitus male with B. terrestris queen is 1.8-fold more frequent than with a B. ignitus queen. The cross-mated B. ignitus queen with B. terrestris male produced B. ignitus workers and B. ignitus male offspring, and the cross-mated B. terrestris queen with B. ignitus male produced both B. terrestris males and B. ignitus male offspring. The genetic tests using a portion of the mitochondrial COI gene for the parent and hybrid offspring indicate that mitochondrial DNA was maternally inherited. Our results indicate that interspecific cross-mating occurred between B. ignitus and B. terrestris, which suggests that the cross-mating is not an exclusive force against the negative impact of competition and genetic contamination on native bumblebees.