1UGC Academic Staff College, Central College Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 001.
2Centre for Apiculture Studies, Department of Zoology, Jnana Bharathi Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056.
The studies on effects of feeding pollen supplement on foraging behaviour of A. cerana in respect of pollen load carrying capacity and pollen trip frequency were conducted at Bangalore during May and June 2009. The results showed that, the pollen load carrying capacity of the bees was varied among the worker bees developed in pollen supplemented and control colonies. The bees developed from pollen supplemented colonies carried heavier pollen loads than those of control colonies (P<0.01). The mean minimum and maximum size of pollen loads carried by each marked worker bees from controlled and pollen supplemented colonies were 6.8 and 7.6 mg and 11.3 and 14.8 mg respectively. The results also indicated that, the foragers from pollen supplemented colonies performed greater number of pollen trips than those from controlled colonies (P<0.01). The mean minimum and maximum number of pollen trips made by marked worker bees from controlled and pollen supplemented colonies were 0.6 and 0.7 and 1.2 and 1.5/hr respectively. Our results support the significance of pollen supplement to the bees.during dearth seasons under Bangalore conditions.
Pollen supplement, pollen load size, pollen foraging trips, Apis cerana
