[Objectives] To investigate
whether volatiles of female
Actinidia chinensis ‘Hongyang’ flowers affect honeybee foraging behavior.
[Methods] Headspace
solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(HS-SPME-GC-MS) was used to identify the
components and relative content of volatile compounds of female Hongyang
kiwifruit flowers. The responses of
Apis
cerana and
Apis mellifera to
these volatile compounds were determined using a gas chromatography- antennae
potential measurement system (GC-EAD) and Y-type olfactometer.
[Results] GC-MS identified 33 components in the
volatiles of female Hongyang kiwifruit flowers, including alcohols, esters,
ketones, hydrocarbons, terpenes, aldehydes, amines and salts.
GC-EAD results show that linalool, nonanal, phenylethyl
alcohol, 2,6, 6-trimethyl-2-cyclohexene-1, 4-dione, ethyl benzoate, methyl
salicylate and cis-3-hexenyl 2-methylbutanoate
induced
electroantennogram responses in both
A. cerana and
A. mellifera. However,
cis-3-hexenyl acetate, ethyl salicylate and β-Ionone only induced a response in
A. cerana. The Y-tube olfactometer tests showed that the volatiles of
female Hongyang kiwifruit flowers were not significantly
attractive to
A. cerana (attraction rate = 60%;
P > 0.05) and that the same volatiles were repellent to
A.
mellifera (avoidance rate = 67.5%;
P < 0.01).
[Conclusion] There
is a significant difference in the response of
A. cerana and
A. mellifera to volatiles of female Hongyang
kiwifruit flowers.
A. cerana doesn’t have an
obvious preference for these volatiles which are actually repellant to
Apis mellifera. Therefore,
A. cerana should
be a superior pollinator of Hongyang kiwifruit than
Apis mellifera.