Scientists use "smell training" bees to increase the seed yield of sunflowers.

If you want dogs to look for something, it's helpful to let them smell the object.
September 17th, researchers report in the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press Cell Press, that bees that are trained to smell in hives may work in a similar way -- and that this approach allows bees to pollinate their crops more effectively.
study showed a significant increase in the yield of sunflower crops after bees were given food with a sunflower-like smell.
we have shown that it is possible for bees to receive reward odors in bee populations, an experience that alters the odor-guided behavior of bees later in life.
"Walter Farina of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, said, "The most surprising and relevant result is that the foraging preference for the target crop is so persistent and dense that it contributes to a significant increase in crop yields."
" Farina team has previously shown that bees can build stable, long-term memories of food smells in hives.
they also know that memories in these hives may affect which plants bees "visit" later.
In order to grow bees so that they have the memory to eat sunflowers later, the researchers first developed a simple synthetic odor mixture that bees associated with the natural flowers of sunflowers;
found that these pre-training sessions and memories of the sunflower scent influenced the bees' later foraging preferences, which can be inferred by decoding the bee's swinging dance.
training allows bees to "visit" sunflowers more.
the trained bees also brought more sunflower pollen back to the hive.
increase in sunflower "visits" and foraging has also increased sunflower seed production by 29 to 57 per cent.
this training program has the potential to increase bee foraging activities and significantly increase target crop yields.
, as part of a precision pollination strategy, pollination services for crops that rely on pollinators can be improved by using simple simulated odors," Farina said.
researchers say they are now studying other pollinator-dependent crops, including almonds, pears and apples.
, their goal is to develop a new range of odor simulations to improve pollination efficiency and yield for many important crops.
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