Use of a synthetic honey bee brood pheromone to boost blueberry pollination

Honey bee larvae produce a 10-component non-volatile brood pheromone that when released prompts workerbees to forage for pollen and nectar with increased intensity. In nature this results in improved nutrition oflarvae and the queen, increased egg laying by the queen, and enhanced colony vigor. Contech Enterprises Inc.is a British Columbia based company and the developers of SuperBoost, a commercial, synthetic formulationof the honey bee brood pheromone. In-house research has demonstrated numerous positive effects on honeybee colonies, but it remains unknown whether SuperBoost can increase pollination success and yield of cropsthat depend on bees for cross-pollination and fruit set. Contech Inc. will partner with Dr. Chris Cutler (NovaScotia Agricultural College) to test hypotheses related to the use of SuperBoost to increase yields of crops thatdepend upon honey bees for pollination. Lowbush blueberry, a $115 million annual horticultural crop ineastern Canada that relies heavily on the pollination services of honey bees, will be used as a model system. IfSuperBoost is shown to improve pollination and yield of lowbush blueberry, this could usher in a novel,hitherto unanticipated application for the product to greatly improve the efficacy of honey bee pollinationservices for fruit and vegetable producers in Canada and around the world.