**3. Technical-economic and apidological aspects of apple pollination**

#### **3.1 Technical-economic aspects**

Most apple cultivars require cross-pollination with a compatible pollinizer to increase apple tree yield and fruit quality. Some exceptions to this are the diploid varieties as Golden Delicious, the more cultivated in Val di Non. Although this variety is partially self-fruitful, it will produce better apples with cross-pollination by means of honey bees. This has been observed in Val di Non where, despite being close to vast areas of meadow and wood, the pollination action carried out by wild pollinators is sometimes limited due to the low temperatures of the flowering period. To get the maximum quality of apple production, it is necessary that pollination takes place at the first flowering phase, when 2–4% of the flowers of apple are open (first king flowers). The commercial pollination of the apple tree does not occur in Val di Non simultaneously because the local flowering periods of the apple orchards depend on the altitude and exposure and on the different varieties cultivated. Depending on the altitudinal level, at the same variety, the flowering window is about 14–18 days, while it's between 5 and 8 days the period of beginning of flowering among the varieties grown on the same altitudinal plane. The honey bee colonies are distributed in orchards to be pollinated in small batches according to precise stocking density, which in the case of apple intensive cultivation is placed in the range 8 ± 4 honey bee colonies per batch. The optimal stocking density varies according to some parameters, in particular the varieties of apples locally grown (few varieties or multi-varieties). Even if one colony per hectare could generally be enough, it is advisable to distribute honey bee colonies at a rate of 1.5 per hectare. The permanence of honey bee colonies for pollination of apple orchards has a theoretical duration of 18 ± 2 days, generally included between the first week of April and May; operatively this period is greatly influenced by the weather pattern [35].

**39**

of thousands of farmers.

unproven.

pollination service.

with the questionnaire are the following:

*Commercial Pollination of Apple Orchards: Val di Non Case Study*

ones and can after that receive pesticides while blooming.

If the first phase of full flowering takes place with very favorable weather for the flight of honey bees, the hives can be transferred to the next site already after 7–10 days. The problem of the use of pesticides assumes in the case of the Val di Non and, more generally in the alpine territory, a particular connotation due to the blossoming of apple orchards that is strictly correlated to the variation of the elevation. In fact, it may happen that active honey bees on a site where apple orchards are in bloom and therefore pesticide treatments are not yet performed can reach apple orchards located at a lower elevation where the bloom is already over (or is considered such by growers), and therefore the treatments with pesticides have already started. The problem is aggravated by the presence of new apple plants which, especially in the first year of plantation, usually bloom 3–4 weeks later than the others. These young apple trees are often nearby or mixed (in rows) with productive

The apple growers of the Val di Non confer (with few exceptions) their production for the subsequent conservation, processing, and marketing to 16 cooperatives associated in turn in a Consortium. The area cultivated with apple trees from the 4000 producers associated with the cooperatives of the Val di Non extends over 6400 ha located at an altitude between 450 and 900 m above sea level (https:// www.melinda.it/il-consorzio/il-consorzio.html). In the Val di Non, the average size of the apple orchards owned by single farmers is only 1.6 ha, and the land parcels are so small that they evoke the image of "patches of land." The management of the pollination service at the farm level would be almost impossible, given that the flight of the honey bee exceeds 1 km and does not respect the boundaries of the land parcels. In these conditions, some farmers may behave as free riders, i.e., wait for others to implement their apple orchard pollination service and then benefit from it free of charge. Acting in this way would get the service without paying the fee; lastly, however, they would compromise, due to the reaction of those who paid for the service, the commercial pollination on the whole area (or almost) reaching a socially inefficient situation. The problem of the free rider found a solution in Val di Non thanks to the coordination function carried out by the farmer cooperatives. The latter, acting as territorial authority, organize the pollination service on behalf of their members: they decide the stocking density to be applied to the apple orchards, settle the payments to beekeepers who have provided honey bee colonies for hire, and divide the cost of the service among the producers in proportion to the pollinated surface. In some areas of the Val di Non, the commercial pollination service is managed by the land improvement consortium to replace the cooperative. The associated management of the pollination service generates a further economic advantage as it allows to contain the transaction costs [36]. The pollination contract is in fact stipulated by the cooperative without the direct involvement

The most significant economic aspects among those submitted to beekeepers

a.If they plan the movements of honey bee colonies before the start of the migration route. This hypothesis, however plausible it may be, remains to this day

b.If they consider the robustness of the honey bee colonies to be relevant in determining the pollination fee of the apple orchards. The effectiveness of the pollination service depends critically to know if the beekeepers who support the pollination of the apple orchards in Val di Non are aware of the need to consider this factor in the calculation of the pollination fee of the commercial

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90429*

#### *Commercial Pollination of Apple Orchards: Val di Non Case Study DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90429*

*Modern Beekeeping - Bases for Sustainable Production*

under investigation.

**3.1 Technical-economic aspects**

the interviewee entered numeric data (**Table 1**, Section 3).

were multiple choice and the interviewee could choose between several pre-coded answers (**Table 1**, Section 2); in other cases, the answer was in an open form where

A total of 43 completed questionnaires were returned by the beekeepers. However, the number of valid answers varies from question to question. As a whole, the respondent beekeepers, given the stocking density average locally applied to apple orchards, provide almost half of the commercial pollination needs in the area

The commercial pollination of the apple orchards in Val di Non is always practiced at the beginning of the migration itinerary of the beekeepers of Northern Italy. In this period of the year, beekeepers are not able to provide data on the loss of honey bee colonies in summer and winter, on the average feeding cost of the honey bee colony. For these aspects, the questionnaire asked the beekeeper to refer to the situation of the previous year (2018) or the last two years or to indicate the expected value under normal conditions. The averages of the continuous variables and the percentages of the answers to the pre-coded questions were calculated. The statistical analyzes of the data collected with the questionnaire are placed, for the peculiarity of the questions set out and for the lack of information on the distribution of the variables, in the context of non-parametric statistics. To process the collected data, the R program, an open source programming language designed specifically for statistical analysis [34], was used. In order to ascertain the effect of the company size, beekeepers were divided into two groups based on the number of bee colonies they managed: a) up to 80 honey bee colonies; and b) more than 80 honey bee colonies.

**3. Technical-economic and apidological aspects of apple pollination**

Most apple cultivars require cross-pollination with a compatible pollinizer to increase apple tree yield and fruit quality. Some exceptions to this are the diploid varieties as Golden Delicious, the more cultivated in Val di Non. Although this variety is partially self-fruitful, it will produce better apples with cross-pollination by means of honey bees. This has been observed in Val di Non where, despite being close to vast areas of meadow and wood, the pollination action carried out by wild pollinators is sometimes limited due to the low temperatures of the flowering period. To get the maximum quality of apple production, it is necessary that pollination takes place at the first flowering phase, when 2–4% of the flowers of apple are open (first king flowers). The commercial pollination of the apple tree does not occur in Val di Non simultaneously because the local flowering periods of the apple orchards depend on the altitude and exposure and on the different varieties cultivated. Depending on the altitudinal level, at the same variety, the flowering window is about 14–18 days, while it's between 5 and 8 days the period of beginning of flowering among the varieties grown on the same altitudinal plane. The honey bee colonies are distributed in orchards to be pollinated in small batches according to precise stocking density, which in the case of apple intensive cultivation is placed in the range 8 ± 4 honey bee colonies per batch. The optimal stocking density varies according to some parameters, in particular the varieties of apples locally grown (few varieties or multi-varieties). Even if one colony per hectare could generally be enough, it is advisable to distribute honey bee colonies at a rate of 1.5 per hectare. The permanence of honey bee colonies for pollination of apple orchards has a theoretical duration of 18 ± 2 days, generally included between the first week of April and May; operatively this period is greatly influenced by the weather pattern [35].

**38**

If the first phase of full flowering takes place with very favorable weather for the flight of honey bees, the hives can be transferred to the next site already after 7–10 days.

The problem of the use of pesticides assumes in the case of the Val di Non and, more generally in the alpine territory, a particular connotation due to the blossoming of apple orchards that is strictly correlated to the variation of the elevation. In fact, it may happen that active honey bees on a site where apple orchards are in bloom and therefore pesticide treatments are not yet performed can reach apple orchards located at a lower elevation where the bloom is already over (or is considered such by growers), and therefore the treatments with pesticides have already started. The problem is aggravated by the presence of new apple plants which, especially in the first year of plantation, usually bloom 3–4 weeks later than the others. These young apple trees are often nearby or mixed (in rows) with productive ones and can after that receive pesticides while blooming.

The apple growers of the Val di Non confer (with few exceptions) their production for the subsequent conservation, processing, and marketing to 16 cooperatives associated in turn in a Consortium. The area cultivated with apple trees from the 4000 producers associated with the cooperatives of the Val di Non extends over 6400 ha located at an altitude between 450 and 900 m above sea level (https:// www.melinda.it/il-consorzio/il-consorzio.html). In the Val di Non, the average size of the apple orchards owned by single farmers is only 1.6 ha, and the land parcels are so small that they evoke the image of "patches of land." The management of the pollination service at the farm level would be almost impossible, given that the flight of the honey bee exceeds 1 km and does not respect the boundaries of the land parcels. In these conditions, some farmers may behave as free riders, i.e., wait for others to implement their apple orchard pollination service and then benefit from it free of charge. Acting in this way would get the service without paying the fee; lastly, however, they would compromise, due to the reaction of those who paid for the service, the commercial pollination on the whole area (or almost) reaching a socially inefficient situation. The problem of the free rider found a solution in Val di Non thanks to the coordination function carried out by the farmer cooperatives. The latter, acting as territorial authority, organize the pollination service on behalf of their members: they decide the stocking density to be applied to the apple orchards, settle the payments to beekeepers who have provided honey bee colonies for hire, and divide the cost of the service among the producers in proportion to the pollinated surface. In some areas of the Val di Non, the commercial pollination service is managed by the land improvement consortium to replace the cooperative.

The associated management of the pollination service generates a further economic advantage as it allows to contain the transaction costs [36]. The pollination contract is in fact stipulated by the cooperative without the direct involvement of thousands of farmers.

The most significant economic aspects among those submitted to beekeepers with the questionnaire are the following:

