Honey Bee Foraging and Resultant Seed Set among Male-fertile and Cytoplasmically Male-sterile Carrot Inbreds and Hybrid Seed Parents1,2

A study of foraging by honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) among cytoplasmically male-sterile and malefertile seed parents of carrot ( Daucus carota L.) revealed that honey bee discrimination between the fidelity to carrot phenotype and genotype were evident and often extreme. Some lines were extensively visited while others were virtually ignored. Wide differences in seed set were evident among male-sterile F 1 ’s and inbreds and malefertile lines. Differences in seed yield were correlated with foraging preferences, but the quality of nectar from the stomachs of bees was not.