We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
FORAGING BEHAVIOUR OF HONEY BEES ON STRAWBERRY (FRAGARIA ANANASSA DUCH.).
- Authors
Kumar, Neeraj; Giri, G. S.
- Abstract
The studies on “Foraging Behaviour of Honey bees on Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.)” was carried out to assess the foraging pattern of honey bees on strawberry bloom and to ascertain the strawberry as bee flora. The relative abundance of honey bees were recorded on strawberry variety Festival, which showed that Apis mellifera was dominant visitor followed by A. dorsata and A. florea. Maximum population of Apis spp. were observed in week have comparatively higher temperature and lower relative humidity. The abundance of honey bees were observed maximum during middle of the flowering and lower during initiation of flowering stage and near maturity of the crop. The honey bees activities were recorded at different hours of the day which showed that, the peak activity of Apis spp. was at 0900h (3.27 bees/10 min/m²) of the day while minimum population of Apis spp. were recorded at 1500h (2.09 bees/10 min/m²) of the day on strawberry. The coefficient of correlation between population of honey bee species and temperature was found positive while it showed negative correlation with relative humidity. Among honey bee species A. dorsata had recorded maximum duration of foraging followed by A. mellifera while A. florea showed minimum duration of foraging. The foraging rate (no. of flower visited /min) of honey bees revealed that A. florea (12.30) showed highest foraging rate followed by A. mellifera (10.73) and it was lowest in case of A. dorsata (8.53). The observation on foraging speed (time spent in second/flower) revealed that time spent by A. dorsata (11.53 sec.) was maximum on the flower as compare to A. mellifera (10.30 sec.), while minimum time was spent by A. florea (7.50 sec.). The observations on foraging behaviour of honey bees on strawberry indicated that this crop might be ascertain as good bee flora and to provide floral rewards to honey bees.
- Subjects
HONEYBEES; POLLINATION by bees; STRAWBERRIES; POLLINATORS; HUMIDITY; LOW temperatures; BEES; STATISTICAL correlation
- Publication
Journal of Experimental Zoology India, 2020, Vol 23, Issue 1, p559
- ISSN
0972-0030
- Publication type
Article