G.P. Painkra* and Kumaranag, K.M1
All India Coordinated Research project on Honey Bees and Pollinators
IGKV, Department of Entomology, RMD College of Agriculture & Research Station, Ambikapur -497001 (Chhattisgarh) India
1Project Coordinating Unit, Division of Entomology, IARI, New Delhi, India 110012
Received-04.08.2019, Revised-26.08.2019
Abstract: A field observation was undertaken during 2018-19 to study the foraging activity of stingless bee on different hours of the day on sunflower. The observation was started from 2nd week of April 2019 to 4th week of May 2019. The population of bee (5.05 bees/ 5 plants/5min/plot) was recorded in between 8.00-9.00AM. It was recorded least among all over the five observations. However, its population was increased suddenly and reached its peak (8.17 bees/5plant/5min) in between 10.00 to 11.00AM followed by ( 5.17 bees/5plants/5minutes) at 12.00- 13.00 PM, (7.14 bees/5plants/5 minutes) at 14.00-15.00 PM and ( 5.12 bees/5plants/5 minutes) in between 16.00-17.00PM. The maximum blooming period and population of bees was recorded on 1st week of May 2019 (9.08 bees/5plants/5 minutes) followed by 4th week of April (7.92 bees/5plants/5 minutes) and 3rd week of April (6.56 bees/5plants/5 minutes) however, the lowest population was recorded on 4th week of May (3.6 bees/5plants/5 minutes).
Keywords: foraging activity, Sunflower, stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis, Meliponinae
References
Amano, Kazuhire, Nemoto, T. and Heard, T.A. (2000). What are stingless bees, and why and how to use Them as crop pollinators? – A Review JARQ 34(3):183-190.
Anchalee sawatthum (2015). Pollen Food Source Diversity of Stingless Bee Tetragonula pegdeni and Lepidotrigona terminata in Cultivated Area. IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development pp 61-65.
Bruijn, L.L.M.de and Sommeeijer, M.J. (1997). Colony foraging in different species of stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponinae) and the regulation of individual nectar foraging.Insects, Soc 35-47.
Brunno Kuhn-Neto, Felipe A.L. Contrera, Marina S. Castro1 and James C. Nieh (2009). Long distance foraging and recruitment by a stingless bee, Melipona mandacaia. Apidologie 40 : 472–480.
Ester Judith, S.L.A.A., Chaves Luis, Alejandro, S´ANCHEZb, Katia, Sampaio, MALAGODI-BRAGA, Frouke and Elisabeth HOFSTEDE (2006). Stingless bees in applied pollination. practice and perspectives. Apidologie 37, 1–23
Gadhiya, V. C. and Pastagia, J. J. (2015). flowers visited by stingless bees, Tetragonula laeviceps SMITH, AGRES – An International e-Journal , 4( 4): 323-330.
Ghazi, R., Azmi, W.A., Jaapar, M.F. and Hasaan, N.B. (2014). Foraging Activities of Stingless Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Hetrotrigona itama) international symposium on insects, 1-3 December.pp 21-27.
Julieta Grajales-Conesa, Virginia Meléndez Ramírez, Leopoldo Cruz-López, and Daniel Sánchez Guillén (2012). Effect of Citrus floral extracts on the foraging behavior of the stingless bee, Scaptotrigona pectoralis (Dalla Torre). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 56(1): 76–80.
Karthick, K. S., Chinniah, C., Parthiban, P. and Ravikumar, A. (2018). Prospects and challenges in Meliponiculture in India. International Journal of Research Studies in Zoology .4(1), PP 29-38.
Painkra, G.P. (2019). Foraging behaviour of stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis (Hymenoptera –Apidae) in broccoli flowers in Ambikapur of Chhattisgarh. Journal of Plant Development Sciences, 11(7) : 431-433.
Rahman, A., Das, P. K., Rajkumari, P. Saikia, J. and Sharmah, D. (2015). Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera:Apidae:Meliponini): Diversity and Distribution in India. International Journal of Science and Research,4(1):70-81.
Robert, Kajobe (2008). Foraging behaviour of equatorial Afro tropical stingless bees: habitat selection and competition for resources pp-1-128.
Sara, D., Leonhardt, Kai, Dworschak, Thomas, Eltz and Nico, Bluthgen (2007). Foraging loads of stingless bees and utilisation of stored nectar for pollen harvesting,Apidologie 38 125–135.
Saravanan, P.A., Muthuraman, M. and Sriram, R. (2004). Some observations on certain behaviours of stingless bee Trigona iridipennis Smith. Proceedings of the 8th IBRA international Conference on Tropical Bees and VI Encontro sobre abelhas, Sep 4th to 10 2004.
Saravanan, P.A. and Alagar, M. (2007). Foraging activity of stingless bee, Trigona iridipennis Smith. Journal of Plant Prot. Environment 4(2):65-69.
Tim A. Heard (1999). The role of stingless bees in crop pollination.Annu. Rev. Entomol. 1999. 44:183–206.
Vijayan, M, Saravan, P.A. and Srinivasan, M.R. (2018). Effect of season and timings on the foraging activity of stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith (Hymenoptera- Apidae).Madras Agric. Journal, 105(7-9):286-290.
Wahizatul, afzan azmi, Nur syuhadah, zulqurnain and Rroziah, ghazi (2015). Melissopalynology and foraging activity of stingless bees, lepidotrigona terminata (hymenoptera: apidae) from an apiary in besut, Terengganu.Journal of Sustainability Science and Management, 10 (1): 27-35.