BACKGROUND Breeding programs and research activities where artificial buzz-pollinations are required to have primarily relied upon using tuning forks, and bumble bees. However, these methods can be expensive, unreliable, and inefficient. To find an alternative, we tested the efficiency of pollen collection using electric toothbrushes and compared it with tuning forks at three vibration frequencies-low, medium, and high and two extraction times at 3 s and 16 s- from two buzz-pollinated species (Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum elaeagnifolium). RESULTS Our results show that species, and extraction time significantly influenced pollen extraction, while there were no significant differences for the different vibration frequencies and more importantly, the use of a toothbrush over tuning fork. More pollen was extracted from S. elaeagnifolium when compared to S. lycopersicum, and at longer buzzing time regardless of the instrument used. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that electric toothbrushes can be a viable and inexpensive alternative to tuning forks, and regardless of the instrument used and buzzing frequency, length of buzzing time is also critical in pollen extraction.

中文翻译：

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使用电动牙刷替代音叉进行人工蜂鸣授粉的效率与仪器蜂鸣频率无关。


背景技术需要人工蜂鸣授粉的育种计划和研究活动主要依赖于使用音叉和大黄蜂。然而，这些方法可能昂贵、不可靠且低效。为了找到替代方案，我们测试了使用电动牙刷收集花粉的效率，并将其与音叉在三种振动频率（低、中、高）和两种提取时间（3 秒和 16 秒）下对两种蜂鸣授粉物种的花粉采集进行了比较（番茄 (Solanum lycopersicum) 和茄叶 (Solanum elaeagnifolium)。结果我们的结果表明，物种和提取时间显着影响花粉提取，而不同振动频率没有显着差异，更重要的是，使用牙刷而不是音叉。与番茄相比，从茄叶中提取的花粉更多，并且无论使用何种仪器，蜂鸣时间都更长。结论我们的结果表明，电动牙刷可以成为音叉的可行且廉价的替代品，并且无论使用的仪器和蜂鸣频率如何，蜂鸣时间的长度对于花粉提取也至关重要。