국내 원예작물에서 화분매개곤충의 의존도는 해마다 증가하고 있다. 우리는 사과, 딸기 등 화분매개곤충의 의존도가 높은 주요 과수와 시설작물에 대하여 화분매개곤충의 사용기술을 개발하고 이를 현장에 적용하는 연구를 수행하고 있다. 2021년부터 2022년까지 딸기, 키위 등 5가지 주요 농작물에서 화분매개벌을 적용한 결과, 딸기에서 뒤영벌의 적용결과 기존 꿀벌과 통계적으로 같은 수준의 화분매개효과를 나타내었으며, 하우스에서 농약적용시 하우스 밖으로 벌통을 위치시키는 것이 방치보다 벌의 소실을 20% 더 감소시킬 수 있었다. 인공수분 에 의존하고 있는 씨없는 수박에서 수분수 식재와 꿀벌을 이용함으로 기존 벌 방사보다 16% 착과율을 향상시킬 수 있었다. 시설고추에서 꿀벌과 뒤영벌의 혼합사용시 기존 꿀벌 방사보다 고추 수량이 10% 향상되었고, 토마토 에서 660㎡당 뒤영벌의 봉군량을 1.5배 증가시 토마토 수량은 4.4% 향상되었다. 키위는 꿀벌로 기존의 인공수분 을 충분히 대체할 수 있었고, 인건비가 60%이상 절감되었다. 또한 현재 시판중인 30종의 살충제와 27종의 살균제 에 대하여 24시간내 반수치사를 보인 농약은 각각 살충제 6종와 살균제 4종 이었다. 이어서 2023년부터 참외, 멜론, 사과, 단감에 대한 현장적용연구가 진행되고 있다.

Bee traffic at the hive entrance can be used as an important indicator of foraging activity. We investigated patterns of honeybees and bumblebees near their hives as a basis for calculating bee traffic using the image deep learning. The flight pattern near the hive differed significantly according to bee at entering and leaving the hive. Honeybees mainly showed flight that changed flight direction more than once (69.5%), whereas bumblebees mainly performed straight flight (48.7%) or had a single turn (36.5%) in flight. When bees entered the hive, honeybees primarily showed one-turn or two-turn flight patterns(88.5%), and bumblebees showed a one-turn flight pattern (48.0%). In contrast, when leaving the hive, honeybees primarily showed a straight flight pattern (63.0%), and bumblebees primarily showed a straight or one-turn pattern (90.5%). There was a significant difference in flight speed according to the flight pattern. The speed of straight flight (0.89±0.47 m/s) was 1.5 to 2.1 times faster than flight where direction changed. Therefore, our results can help determine the capturing and recognizing the flying image of bees when calculating bee traffic by image deep learning.

We investigated mating conditions about care temperature of queen before mating, mating period, and number of queen per mating cage to improve mating rate of Bombus terrestris. Among 19℃, 22℃ and 25℃, care temperatures of queen before mating, queen cared at 19℃ was more effective than those at 22℃ and 25℃ in death rate during care and mating periods, and colony development. In case of mating period, oviposition rate and preoviposition periods at queen mated during 3 days were 89.3% and 11.4 days, respectively, which was higher and earlier than those of queen mated during 5 days and 7 days. The rate of worker emergence, colony foundation and progeny-queen production at 3 daysmated queen were also 2.0-11.6% higher than those at queen mated during 5 days and 7 days. In number of queen per mating cage, the rate of worker emergence, colony foundation and progeny-queen production queen mated at mating cage with 10 queens and 30 males were 41.5%, 25.9% and 23.2%, respectively. These values correspond to 1.5-6.8 folds those queen mated at cage with 20 queens and 30 queens. Therefore, we supposed that care temperature favorable for B. terrestris queen was 19℃ and the period need to mating was 3 days, and the number of queen per mating cage (55× 45× 65㎝) was 10.

Three rice cultivars, Namweonbyeo (early maturing), Hwaseongbyeo (medium maturing) and Dongjinbyeo (medium-late maturing) were trans-planted with 3 different seedling ages to investigate their growth habits and to improve the cultural method in paddy fields in the southern plain area of the Honam region in 1993. The 10-day old seedlings had more vigorous elongation of plant height and higher tillering ability but lower effective tiller rate, when compared with 35-day or 40-day old seedlings. Leaf area index and top dry weight were lower in 10-day old seedlings up to 40 days after transplanting but thereafter, were not different among seedlings ages. CGR was later in 10-day old seedlings, up to 30 days after transplanting, but in 30 to 40 days after transplanting, it was reversed. RGR was the highest in infant seedlings to 40 days after trans-planting, while in 50 days after transplanting, it was reversed. Panicle number and spikelet number per square meter were the highest in 40-day old seedlings, next highest in 35-day old seedlings and the lowest and in adult seedlings up to 40 days after transplanting, while spikelet number per panicle was vice versa. Milled rice yield did not vary significantly by seedling ages, but among the varieties, it was less in Hwaseongbyeo compared with Naweonbyeo and Dongjnbyeo.