Due to the ongoing worldwide decline in bee populations, farmers are increasingly looking to alternative methods of pollinating fruit-bearing plants. As it turns out, the use of soap bubbles may succeed where things like drones alone have failed.
The scientists therefore proceeded to add pear pollen to a solution of 0.4-percent A-20AB – the pH of the water that made up the rest of the solution was optimized to support germination, plus beneficial compounds such as calcium were added.
When that liquid was subsequently loaded into a bubble gun and applied (in bubble form) to pear trees in an orchard, pollen was successfully delivered to the targeted flowers, ultimately resulting in the production of fruit.
Each bubble carries about 2,000 pollen grains
Next, a GPS-guided autonomous drone was used to blow the bubbles onto artificial lilies, as the real plants weren’t in bloom at the time. Flying at a height of 2 meters (6.6 ft) and traveling at a speed of 2 meters per second, it had a 90-percent success rate and delivering pollen to the flowers.
There are some limitations to the technique, however, such as the fact that wind could blow the bubbles away, or rain could wash them off the flowers. Additionally, the efficiency needs to be improved, as most of the bubbles still end up missing the targeted flowers.
https://newatlas.com/science/soap-bubbles-pollinate-pear-flowers/