Bees play an important role in pollination of various agricultural crops, which ultimately affects fertility. According to Cornell University, bees pollinate 70 percent of the world’s crops. Among these crops, almonds are especially in demand. Bees and almonds have a symbiotic relationship, and both almonds and bees benefit from this relationship.

The process of pollination is as follows: when sitting on a flower, the bee gets pollen grains on its body, which later the bee inadvertently transfers to other plants and thus contributes to their fertilization. As for the direct benefits of the bee, in this process the bee takes nectar from the flower, which it then converts into food. Almond pollen is very nutritious and provides 10 of the most essential amino acids to bees.

The almond tree is fertile on the same principle as other flowering plants. The almond flower has a deep central pollen tube from which the bee obtains its food. In order for an almond flower to be fertilized, it needs to be cross-pollinated from another variety of almond tree. Therefore, when planning an almond garden, farmers take this fact into account and choose varieties whose flowering coincides with each other. Bees are the perfect mechanism for transferring pollen grains from the few varieties of trees that a farmer has in his garden.

In order to get one almond fruit, it is necessary for a bee to land on an almond flower several times. An almond orchard needs about five bee colonies per hectare. The bee starts to act as soon as it sees the first flower. At this time, the optimal air temperature should be 12-15 C .

There are two types of bees: pollinators and nectar feeders. Nectar feeders get their nectar without touching the bee, and pollinating bees get nectar from the pollen bag, so they have a greater chance of touching the bee and fertilization.

It is best to plant hives in the garden when 10 percent of the almond blossoms have already opened. Some almond flowers bloom relatively early, so to exclude unpollinated flowers, several hives should be erected at the beginning of flowering. Typically, bees feed on one tree and then move to another tree in the same row. It is recommended to place hives in every second row.

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