This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: As they fly about their usual business of pollinating flowers, bumblebees could help protect fruit trees from disease by carrying a natural treatment directly to where it is needed. Crop scientists have shown that bees can deliver naturally occurring viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, to cherry blossoms as they visit the flowers.
The approach could help growers protect fruit crops more precisely while reducing reliance on conventional chemical treatments. Mojgan Rabiey, a plant pathologist specializing in biological crop protection at Warwick Crop Centre, said, "Phages are found almost everywhere in nature, including in soil and water and on plants. Unlike viruses that infect people, animals or plants, phages only infect and kill bacteria, and individual phages are highly specific about which bacteria they attack.
That means we can select phages that specifically target disease-causing bacteria without harming beneficial microbes around them. "But finding an effective phage is only half of the challenge. We also need to deliver it exactly where and when the plant needs protection—and that is where the bumblebees come in." The paper is published in the journal Biological Control.
The idea of using bumblebees emerged while Rabiey and her team were visiting orchards to collect samples and search for naturally occurring phages capable of tackling cherry canker, one of the most damaging bacterial diseases affecting cherry production. Rabiey said, "Many cherry growers already use bumblebees to improve pollination, and I started to wonder whether the bees flying from flower to flower could also carry phages directly to the blossoms we want to protect." The researchers developed a system in which bees walk through a tube containing specially formulated phage powder as they leave their hive, picking it up on their bodies in the same way they pick up pollen on flowers. In experiments using both real and artificial cherry flowers, the native British buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris audax) successfully transferred the phage to up to 88% of flowers, where the phages significantly reduced bacterial populations.
Rabiey said, "The most exciting part was seeing nature working with nature. Phages are natural enemies of bacteria, and bumblebees are natural pollinators. Bringing those two systems together gives us a completely different way to think about protecting plants." Rabiey added, "Our long-term goal is to give growers practical, environmentally friendly ways to manage bacterial diseases while reducing reliance on conventional pesticides and antibiotics.
The idea isn't limited to cherries and has the potential to be adapted to other crops where flowers are an important route for bacterial infection." The Warwick team is dedicated specifically to developing phages as biological controls for bacterial diseases of crops and plants. Shannon Greer said, "Developing the phages is only useful if we can turn them into something that growers can realistically use, and our bumblebee phage delivery doesn't require specialized equipment to apply. We have shown that the approach works experimentally, and the next step is to begin piloting the treatment with growers." Shannon F.
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