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<font size=2>Klatt, B. K., et al. (2014). "Bee pollination improves
crop quality, shelf life and commercial value." <u>Proceedings of
the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</u> <b>281</b>(1775).<br><br>
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Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to
one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including
crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by
international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of
agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In
this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee
pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared
with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had
less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had
increased redness and reduced sugar and were firmer, thus improving the
commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss
by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44
billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90
billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The
fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated
production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several
pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be
transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to
be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important
determinant of fruit quality.<br><br>
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