By Sharon Omahen


University of Georgia

Researchers at the University of Georgia are using the same
electrostatic charges that make your socks stick to your sweaters
to help bees pollinate plants.

“Parasites, habitat destruction and pesticides are reducing
the
population of honeybees,” said Hazel Wetzstein, a horticulturist
with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“We aren’t trying to replace bees. We’re just trying to help
them.”

Crops need pollination

Growers of many fruit, vegetable and nut crops rely on proper
pollination.

“Any crop where the fruit or the seed is the final result
needs
to have adequate pollination and fertilization for there to be
good fruit development,” Wetzstein said. “Pollination impacts the
yield and the quality of many crops.”

When you see lopsided apples, that’s likely the result of poor
pollination and fertilization. “And watermelons and squash will
be smaller and distorted when they’re poorly pollinated,” she
said.

Offering bees some help

To offer the bees some help, Wetzstein and Ed Law are using
forces of electrostatic charges to apply pollen to plants. Law is
a biological and agricultural engineer with the UGA Applied
Electrostatics Laboratory in Athens, Ga.

“Lint attached to synthetic fabrics in a clothes dryer is one
example of electric force fields. But we usually consider this a
nuisance,” Law said. “Instead, we’re beneficially using
electrostatics in the same way it’s used to apply paint to cars
and appliances.”

Electrostatic sprayers

Some Vidalia onion growers and greenhouse operators in
Georgia, cotton farmers in the Southwest and vegetable growers in
Central America routinely use electrostatic crop sprayers
developed at UGA, he said.

“Electrostatic forces greatly improve the deposition of sprays
onto leaf surfaces so farmers are able to reduce the amount of
pesticides they dispense from spray nozzles and still get the
required amount on their crops,” he said.

“This leads to a tremendous savings to the farmer in crop
production costs,” he said. “Both the environment and the million
or more acres of crops annually sprayed electrostatically also
benefit from the improved application method.”

Spraying extra pollen

The same technology is being used to spray extra pollen,
liquid or powder form, onto crops.

“We sprayed charged pollen onto crops and found the pollen
penetrates better,” Wetzstein said. “In a crop like almonds,
where fruit set may be only 30 percent, we can potentially
increase the set and the yield dramatically.”

There are down sides, though. “Pollen is pretty difficult to
collect and expensive to buy,” Wetzstein said.

Besides the electrostatic method, Law and Wetzstein are
studying other ways to enhance pollination.

Better ways to pollinate

“Plant breeders and hybrid seed producers use specific types
of pollen to make their crosses,” Wetzstein said. “Much of the
pollen applied to flowers is wasted or lost because it’s
difficult to apply small volumes uniformly. We are researching
ways to dilute the pollen to extend its use and decrease the
amount required.”

When humans do the work of bees, it’s tedious and
time-consuming.

“To have pollen for crosses, workers at seed companies must
harvest flowers, separate and clean the pollen and maintain its
viability during handling and storage,” Wetzstein said. “This is
problematic with many floral and vegetable crops which have
extremely small flowers and little pollen. Finding ways to extend
pollen use would bring production costs down.”

The scientists have also found that spraying fungicides and
pesticides affects pollination.

Damaging pollen

“In the springtime, growers have to spray when the flowers are
blooming,” Wetzstein said. “We’ve found that some of the common
fungicides can damage the flower stigma and have a toxic effect
on the pollen itself.”

But farmers can’t stop spraying to control pests and
diseases.

Wetzstein and Law are now working to find out how much damage
specific pesticides and fungicides cause and to develop
recommendations for farmers.

“In parts of China, field workers apply pollen in apple
orchards
by going from tree to tree with a paint brush,” Wetzstein said.
“Our goal is to find mechanized ways of applying pollen and to
find ways to help the bees be more effective.”