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Micronutrient deficiency is emerging as a significant public health concern in India. Facilitating pollinator populations in agroecosystems could be an efficient mechanism to ensure food production, both quantitatively and qualitatively. To better understand the role of pollinators in the agroecosystems of India, we conducted an analysis of crop production based on their reliance on pollinators during the period 2010–2021. Our findings indicate that although there were no significant changes in the yearly production or cultivation area of various pollinator‐dependent crops, the average yearly rate of crop‐yield increase in pollinator‐dependent crops was notably lower than in crops that did not depend on pollinators during 2015–2021. The study highlights that a significant portion of vitamins, particularly B7, B9, C and K, and carotenoids come from pollinator‐dependent crops. The findings of this study, which highlight the considerable contribution of micronutrients originating from pollinator‐dependent crops, are consistent with results observed in the Republic of Korea. The loss of pollinator populations may result in an approximately 19% deficit in vitamin C. Although vegetables and fruits contain substantial quantities of minerals per unit weight, a significant portion of these minerals is sourced from non‐pollinator‐dependent crops, particularly cereals and pulses, owing to their abundance. We propose that pollinator‐friendly habitat management could be a sustainable solution to avoid the negative consequences associated with reduced food and nutrition arising from a lack of pollinators in agroecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global decline in the population of wild bees has raised serious concerns, as bees are key pollinators that contribute to the sustainability of agriculture. Especially alarming, are the millions of managed bees in Korea that have recently disappeared. Although many abiotic and biotic stresses influence their physiology and behaviour, the causes of these declines have not been thoroughly elucidated. In recent studies, bee gut microbiota was found to play an important role in pathogen defence. We hypothesized that the gut microbiome of honeybees (Apis cerana) resistant (RH and RR) and susceptible (RL) to sacbrood virus disease may differ. To compare the gut bacterial communities of resistant and susceptible bees, alpha diversity and beta diversity analyses were performed. The analysis of alpha diversity revealed that RH had significantly higher Shannon diversity index values than RL. Beta diversity analysis showed that the gut bacterial community of RH was significantly different from that of RL. Four bacterial phyla were identified, and proteobacteria was the most abundant across all samples. Additionally, three operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to Pasteurellales, Burkholderiales, and Pseudomonadales were identified only in RL. In conclusion, the gut bacterial community was significantly different between resistant and susceptible bees, and this difference may contribute to disease resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pesticide application method is one of the important factors affecting its effectiveness and residues, and the risk of pesticides to non-target organisms. To elucidate the effect of application methods on the efficacy and residue of cyenopyrafen, and the toxic effects on pollinators honeybees in strawberry cultivation, the efficacy and residual behavior of cyenopyrafen were investigated using foliar spray and backward leaf spray in field trials. The results showed that the initial deposition of cyenopyrafen using backward leaf spray on target leaves reached 5.06–9.81 mg/kg at the dose of 67.5–101.25 g a.i./ha, which was higher than that using foliar spray (2.62–3.71 mg/kg). The half-lives of cyenopyrafen in leaves for foliar and backward leaf spray was 2.3–3.3 and 5.3–5.9 d, respectively. The residues (10 d) of cyenopyrafen in leaves after backward leaf spray was 1.41–3.02 mg/kg, which was higher than that after foliar spraying (0.25–0.37 mg/kg). It is the main reason for the better efficacy after backward leaf spray. However, the residues (10 d) in strawberry after backward leaf spray and foliar spray was 0.04–0.10 and < 0.01 mg/kg, which were well below the established maximum residue levels of cyenopyrafen in Japan and South Korea for food safety. To further investigate the effects of cyenopyrafen residues after backward leaf spray application on pollinator honeybees, sublethal effects of cyenopyrafen on honeybees were studied. The results indicated a significant inhibition in the detoxification metabolic enzymes of honeybees under continuous exposure of cyenopyrafen (0.54 and 5.4 mg/L) over 8 d. The cyenopyrafen exposure also alters the composition of honeybee gut microbiota, such as increasing the relative abundance of Rhizobiales and decreasing the relative abundance of Acetobacterales. The comprehensive data on cyenopyrafen provide basic theoretical for environmental and ecological risk assessment, while backward leaf spray proved to be effective and safe for strawberry cultivation. [Display omitted] • The efficacy of cyenopyrafen by backward leaf spray was notably greater than that of foliar spray. • Cyenopyrafen by backward leaf spray had higher deposition and longer half-life than foliar spray. • Cyenopyrafen alters the relative abundance of Rhizobiales and Acetobacterales in honeybee gut. • Host-microbiota interactions resist cyenopyrafen through both immune and metabolic pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Deformed wing virus (DWV) is one of the most common viral infection in honeybees. Phylogenetic trees were constructed for 16 partial nucleotide sequences of the structural polyprotein region and the RNA helicase region of South Korean DWVs. The sequences were compared with 10 previously reported DWV sequences from different countries and the sequences of two closely related viruses, Kakugo virus (KGV) and Varroa destructor virus-1 (VDV-1). The phylogeny based on these two regions, the Korean DWV genomes were highly conserved with 95–100% identity, while they also shared 93–97% similarity with genotypes from other countries, although they formed a separate cluster. To investigate this phenomenon in more detail, the complete DWV genome sequences of Korea-1 and Korea-2 were determined and aligned with six previously reported complete DWV genome sequences from different countries, as well as KGV and VDV-1, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The two Korean DWVs shared 96.4% similarity. Interestingly, the Korea-2 genome was more similar to the USA (96.5%) genome than the Korea-1. The Korean genotypes highly conserved with USA (96%) but low similarity with the United Kingdom3 (UK3) genome (89%). The end of the 5′ untranslated region (UTR), the start of the open reading frame (ORF) region, and the 3′ UTR were variable and contained several substitutions/transitions. This phenomenon may be explained by intramolecular recombination between the Korean and other DWV genotypes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]