FLORAL DIVERSITY AND FORAGING BEHAVIOUR OF LITTLE/ DWARF HONEY BEE APIS FLOREA F. IN HORTICULTURAL ECOSYSTEM, MADURAI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

摘要

Among the honey bee species, little/ dwarf bee Apis florea F. plays a major role in pollination of various annual and perennial crops and the successful beekeeping depends on the availability of bee foraging plants in any particular area. This study deals with the flora availability of A. florea in the study area and the results revealed that 122 plants belonging to 47 families were identified as bee foraging plants and the major bee floral families are Fabaceae (15 species/12.29%) followed by Asteraceae (13 species/10.66%), Cucurbitaceae and Euphorbiaceae (7 species/ 5.74% each) and Amaranthaceae (6 species/ 4.92%). These pasturage plants are further grouped into nectar yielders (11), pollen yielders (15) and both nectar and pollen yielders (96).