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Insufficient pollination is one of the direct causes of flower and fruit drop in goji berries. Aiming to determine the flowering characteristics, 'Ningqi 10' was taking as material to analyze flowering period, including flower color, stigma receptivity, pollen vitality, and nectar secretion at different stages. The study also analyzed the pollination characteristics of common pollinating insects, such as the duration of a single visit to flowers and the number of pollen deposition on the stigma. The results showed that during 12~24 h after flowering and the petal color changed to light purple and white purple, the stigma receptivity, pollen vitality, and nectar secretion were the highest, with significant differences (P<0.05) compared to other stages. The number of pollen deposition on the stigma of common pollinating insects after a single visit (moths>bees>non cushioned bees) showed significant differences compared to natural pollination. The average duration of bees visiting purple flowers was 4.1 s, and the difference was extremely significant (P<0.01) compared to the duration of bees visiting yellow flowers (average 1.7 s). The number of pollen deposition on the stigma of common pollinating insects after a single visit to flowers (moths>bees>non cushioned bees) showed significant differences compared to natural pollination. However, in terms of overall efficiency and the number of pollinating insect visits, it was recommended to introduce pollinating insects (such as bees) to enhance the assisted pollination of goji berries and improve the fruit setting and seed setting of 'Ningqi 10'. The research results provided scientific basis for the development of assisted pollination measures for goji berries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, pollen foragers have a higher sucrose responsiveness than nectar foragers when tested using a proboscis extension response (PER) assay. In addition, Africanized honey bees have a higher sucrose responsiveness than European honey bees. Based on the biology of the Eastern honey bee, A. cerana, we hypothesized that A. cerana should also have a higher responsiveness to sucrose than A. mellifera. To test this hypothesis, we compared the sucrose thresholds of pollen foragers and nectar foragers in both A. cerana and A. mellifera in Fujian Province, China. Pollen foragers were more responsive to sucrose than nectar foragers in both species, consistent with previous studies. However, contrary to our hypothesis, A. mellifera was more responsive than A. cerana. We also demonstrated that this higher sucrose responsiveness in A. mellifera was not due to differences in the colony environment by co-fostering two species of bees in the same mixed-species colonies. Because A. mellifera foragers were more responsive to sucrose, we predicted that their nectar foragers should bring in less concentrated nectar compared to that of A. cerana. However, we found no differences between the two species. We conclude that A. cerana shows a different pattern in sucrose responsiveness from that of Africanized bees. There may be other mechanisms that enable A. cerana to perform well in areas with sparse nectar resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]