Study of commencement and cessation of
Apis cerana F. and
Apis mellifera L. on rapeseed and
buckwheat.
Dhakal, G. C., C. K. Mandal, R. B. Thapa and S. M. Shrestha. 2007.
IAAS Research Advances Vol. 2. Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences,
Rampur,
Chitwan, Nepal. pp.
65-67.
Keywords:
Apis cerana,
Apis mellifera, rapeseed, buckwheat,
pollination
An experiment was conducted to assess the foraging behavior and pollination
efficiency of
Apis cerana
F. and
A. mellifera
L. on rapeseed and buckwheat at IAAS, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
during 2002/03. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block
design (RCBD) with three replications and eight treatments (caged, naturally
pollinated, rapeseed + buckwheat with
A. cerana,
rapeseed + buckwheat
with
A. mellifea,
rapeseed with
A. cerana,
rapeseed with
A. mellifea,
buckwheat with
A. cerana
and buckwheat with
A. mellifera),
in which
A.
cerana
commenced earlier in the morning for foraging and ceased later in the evening
than
A.
mellifera.
A. cerana
and A. mellifera foraging on rapeseed
started at 6.52± am and 6.59± 0.38 am and ceased their foraging at 17.07 ±0.01
pm and 16.48± 0.12 pm, respectively. Similarly,
A. cerana and
A. mellifera foraging on buckwheat
started at 7.03+0.22 am and 7.29+0.28 am and ceased their foraging at 16.51
±0.15 pm and 16.48± 0.13 pm, respectively, i.e.
A. cerana devoting 29 minutes
longer/day than A. mellifera in both
the crops.
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