1Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - 141 004, Punjab, India
2Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan - 173 229, Himachal Pradesh, India
Department of Entomology, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India
*Corresponding authors' E-mail: harpreetsekhon405@gmail.com, Orchid Id: 0000-0003-0761-7778
Online Published on 17 January, 2024.
Apis mellifera foraging behavior on Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivar PBR-357, was examined in the northwestern region of Punjab. The foraging rate was utmost at 1200 h (17.06 flowers visited per minute), and it was lowermost at 0900 h (9.075 flowers visited per minute). There was a significant difference between open and caged bee foraging rates (20.02 flowers/minute and 16.11 flowers/minute, respectively). Observations on foraging speed indicate that A. mellifera spends 2.457 seconds per flower in open conditions compared to 3.11 seconds per flower in caged conditions. In caged conditions, bees spend more time foraging than in open conditions, which may be one of the reasons for the increased productivity of B. juncea in caged conditions. In open conditions, A. mellifera foragers had a greater number of loose pollen grains affixed to their bodies than A. cerana (94.56 thousand pollen grains), indicating that A. melifera is more efficient than other bee species.
Brassica juncea, Foraging behavior, Foraging rate, Foraging speed, Honey bees, Loose pollen grains, Pollinators
