A population of sunflower inbred lines was developed to create groups of lines with ‘nectar phenotypes’ that were either high sucrose + low volume or low sucrose + high volume. Floret depth, a measure of the accessibility of nectar to bees, did not differ between the groups of lines. In two years of observations in North Dakota, visits to these lines varied approximately three-fold, but no significant effect of nectar phenotype was detected, which contradicts expectations and some prior research. However, the effects of nectar traits (volume or concentration) may differ over disparate environments, especially under low humidity. This result and future experiments are important both to sunflower breeders (trying to create attractive sunflower inbreds and hybrids) and to growers (who rely on pollinators to support consistent, high yields).
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