Grant: Engage Grants Program

Honey bee larvae produce a 10-component non-volatile brood pheromone that when released prompts worker bees to forage for pollen and nectar with increased intensity. In nature this results in improved nutrition of larvae 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 formulation of the honey bee brood pheromone. In-house research has demonstrated numerous positive effects on honey bee colonies, but it remains unknown whether SuperBoost can increase pollination success and yield of crops that depend on bees for cross-pollination and fruit set. Contech Inc. will partner with Dr. Chris Cutler (Nova Scotia Agricultural College) to test hypotheses related to the use of SuperBoost to increase yields of crops that depend upon honey bees for pollination. Lowbush blueberry, a $115 million annual horticultural crop in eastern Canada that relies heavily on the pollination services of honey bees, will be used as a model system. If SuperBoost 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 pollination services for fruit and vegetable producers in Canada and around the world.