Pollen sources of Asian honeybee (Apis cerana Fabricius) in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India

Abstract

The Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) occurs across the south, southeast and east Asia. The species is utilised in apicultural practices. But the available documents about their floral resources, especially pollen sources, are limited. However, it is a mandatory requirement in a sustainable honeybee management programme. In the present study, we conducted palynological analyses of pollen loads and field surveys to determine pollen sources for the honeybees in West Bengal, India. The honeybee species is regarded as a generalist forager with significant floral constancy supported by homogenous pollen loads with diverse pollen types (here 58). Important pollen-contributed plants were Acacia auriculiformis, Brassica juncea, Cocos nucifera, Eucalyptus sp., Neolamarckia cadamba, Peltophorum pterocarpum, Sesamum indicum and Tridax procumbens. In the semi-urban area of Midnapore town, honeybees mainly depend on planted trees and weeds for pollen sources. While in rural agricultural belts, they also visited wild trees and several cultivated crops. The bee-visited plants are diverse types regarding plant habits, flowering phenology and floral characteristics. These data will be helpful in the management of Asian honeybees, providing pollination services to cultivated crops and thereby enhancing crop yield.

Keywords:

• generalist visitor
• honeybee management
• palynological analysis
• pollen load

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the authorities of Vidyasagar University for providing the necessary laboratory facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2023.2263452.