50. Pollen and nectar collection preferences of the European honeybee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus)
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Abstract
The current experiment was carried out at Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) Tarnab Peshawar, Pakistan during 2021. The main focus of the research was to study the pollen and nectar collection behavior of the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and types of pollen collected in all four season of the year. The foraging behavior was recorded at different intervals of day (8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm). The recorded timing was 1 mint per hive. The results showed that during morning (8am and 10 am) hours, the pollen collection was high as compared to the nectar collection in all seasons. After 12pm pollen collection by the honey bees significantly decreased while an increasing trend was observed in nectar collection, which further remained high until 4pm in all seasons of the year. In summer, the bees start going outside the hives at 8am, while in winter the outgoing activities are little late. In all season the hive collected ten types of pollen with highest amount of pollens in spring season followed by summer season. Lowest pollen collection was recorded in the winter season. Among them maize (Zea mays) pollen was highest (35%), followed by brassica and clover (15%). For Acacia modesta, Heliantus annuus and Ziziphus jujuba the collected pollens percentage was recorded as 10%. Approximately 5% of the collected pollens were mixture of from wild plants/weeds.
Keywords: Acacia; Brassica, Foraging; Nectar; Pollen; Zea mays