Neils
06-06-2013, 02:27 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22779948
Now scientists at Rothamsted say they have a new strategy for containing the beetle. In this experiment the researchers used food colouring to change the colour of the leaves of a variety with white petals.
"We grew oilseed rape in pots, washed off the soil and put the plants into buckets of water," lead author Dr Sam Cook told BBC News.
"And we basically poured food colouring into the water. This was taken up by the roots of the plant and was manifested in the colour of the petals."
Oilseed rape is widely grown across the UK as demand has soared for biofuels
The team coloured the petals yellow, blue and red. In the laboratory and in field trials over two years they found these made a big difference to the pollen beetles.
"Red was significantly less preferred than the blue, and then yellow and white were pretty much the same," said Dr Cook.
When will this evil stop? missing bees AND red honey?
Now scientists at Rothamsted say they have a new strategy for containing the beetle. In this experiment the researchers used food colouring to change the colour of the leaves of a variety with white petals.
"We grew oilseed rape in pots, washed off the soil and put the plants into buckets of water," lead author Dr Sam Cook told BBC News.
"And we basically poured food colouring into the water. This was taken up by the roots of the plant and was manifested in the colour of the petals."
Oilseed rape is widely grown across the UK as demand has soared for biofuels
The team coloured the petals yellow, blue and red. In the laboratory and in field trials over two years they found these made a big difference to the pollen beetles.
"Red was significantly less preferred than the blue, and then yellow and white were pretty much the same," said Dr Cook.
When will this evil stop? missing bees AND red honey?