1Department of Vegetable Science, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj-224 229, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India
2College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Kaul-136 021, Kaithal, Haryana, India
3Department of Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004, Haryana, India
4Krishi Vigyan Kendra, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Kaithal-136 027, Haryana, India
5Department of Entomology, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj-224 229, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding Author: Pradeep Kumar Dalal, Department of Vegetable Science, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj-224 229, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, Email: drpradeep.entovs@nduat.org
Online published on 04 December, 2025.
Bee colonies are fed with pollen supplemented diets to sustain them during unfavourable conditions. These pollen loads are collected from foraging bees using pollen traps mounted on colonies. However, intensive trapping may interfere with honey production. Therefore, a need was felt to regulate frequency of trapping to ensure sufficient honey storage in the colonies.
In this field based study, performed under mustard flowering seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18, traps were mounted on colonies with varying frequencies namely, daily, alternate day, third day, weekly and control under two different mustard flowering locations in Haryana. Honey area and proportion of incoming pollen foragers were recorded from tested colonies.
Daily trapping triggered 29% bees for pollen foraging that contributed to considerable reduction in the honey area (-103 cm2). In contrast, colonies with weekly trapping regimes exhibited large honey area (4054 cm2). Among the locations, large honey area was stored in the weekly trapping colonies at Kaul, Haryana than Hisar, Haryana.
Colony growth, Honey bee, Honey, Pollen loads, Pollen traps
