Foraging activities of Apis mellifera subspecies on soybean

Ma W.H.，Shen J.S., Huang J.X., Du Y.L. and Jiang Y.S.

 

Full Length Research Paper  I Published July,2018

 

Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Technology  Vol. 4 (5), pp.92-97

 

ABSTRACT

 

To make good use of honeybee for soybean pollination, the foraging activities of three honey bee races, namely: Apis mellifera carpatica Foti (A.m.carpatica), Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann (A.m.carnica), and Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola (A.m.ligustica) based on the quantity of foraging bees and soybean pollen load weight were evaluated. Results indicated that the highest peak of the number of out-going bees and in-coming foragers with pollen of A.m.carpatica and A.m.ligustica were both appeared at 9:00, respectively 56 bees and 74 bees, 40 bees and 34 bees. Foragers with pollen of three subspecies decrease over time after 12:00. The soybean pollen weights with the time from three subspecies all have a peak, peaked respectively at 12:00, 13:00, 12:00 and the weight is 0.9027g, 0.7641g and 0.8027g. The weight of soybean pollen has no significant difference (P > 0.05) between three subspecies. The percentage of soybean pollen weight of A.m.carnica was highest (60.63%), and there was a significant difference between that of other two races (P < 0.05). Therefore, A.m.carnica and A.m.ligustica were the best performers in relation to foraging activities on soybean during the hot summer under open fields in the region.

Key Words: Apis mellifera, pollen foragers, out-going foragers, soybean, pollen weight.

 

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