Evaluation of pollen collected by honey bee, Apis mellifera L. colonies at Fayoum Governorate, Egypt. Part 1: Botanical origin

Abstract

The present work is the 1st part of 3-part study carried out at Fayoum Governorate, Egypt to evaluate the pollen species collected by honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colonies during two successive years, 2009 and 2010. Obtained results showed that, in 2009, total amount of trapped pollen (fresh weight) was 2354.89 g/colony/year (mean 588.72 g/colony/season), with peaks in summer and spring, while declined in autumn and winter. Correlation between mean maximum and minimum temperatures and weekly pollen weights was highly positive, while it was insignificant for relative humidity. In 2010, total amount of trapped pollen decreased to 1635.36 g/colony/year (mean 408.84 g/colony/season). The largest amounts were collected in summer followed by winter then spring, while least ones were in autumn. Correlation was highly positive between weekly mean of pollen weights and maximum temperature, while it was insignificant for minimum temperature or relative humidity. There were 24 plant species of 16 botanical families from which bees collected pollen. These sources were ranked according to their predominant quantities in the 1st and 2nd years by two numbers, respectively as the following: sesame 1 and 1, maize 2 and 2, clover 3 and 7, sunflower 4 and 8, wild mustard 5 and 3, casuarina 6 and 13, olive 7 and 11, eucalyptus 8 and 4, pumpkin 9 and 9, cocklebur 10 and 5, date palm 11 and 10, chamomile 12 and 12, field bindweed 13 and 6, pepper 14 and 20, coriander 15 and 16, acacia 16 and 24, citrus 17 and 0, marigold 18 and 0, common red 19 and 17, Christ's thorn 20 and 22, tooth pick 21 and 21, brood bean 22 and 15, belladonna 23 and 23, pea 0 and 14, marjoram 0 and 18 and fennel 0 and 19. The 1st five plants

The Common Types of Pollen Grains Collected by Honey Bee Workers Apis Mellifera, L. (Hymenoptera:Apidae) in El-Sabheia Region, Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

“…That is might be due to increasing of temperature in summer than spring and autumn season, and increasing the flora in this time. These results are agree with Ismail et al (2013) who found that the mean amount of trapped pollen was 588.72 g/colony/season), with detection of high peaks in summer and spring .…”

Enhancing performance of berseem clover genotypes with better harvesting management through farmers’ participatory research at smallholder farms in Punjab

“…1) were unfavourable for pollination resulting in a significant reduction in seed yields of cutting treatments T3 and T4 (Table 1) compared to T2 when environmental conditions were more favourable for pollination. These findings were in line with the studies that reported temperatures of 28-32 °C with a relative humidity of 45-55%, which were favourable for maximum pollination in berseem clover crops 32,33 . The timing of the last forage cut prior to seed harvesting can also impact on the efficiency of pollinators, namely honeybees.…”

Dietary requirements of individual nectar foragers, and colony-level pollen and nectar consumption: a review to support pesticide exposure assessment for honey bees

“…This limits the use of these data with respect to forecasting collection levels. Further, collection by any one colony is expected to vary temporally over the course of a year (Rashad and Parker 1958;Forcone et al 2011;Ismail et al 2013;Requirer et al 2015).…”