Foraging preferences of honey bees Apis cerana in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Honey bees visit flowers for collecting nectar and pollen. Pollen serves as a source of protein for the survival of honeybees. To understand the dependence and preference of the honey bee species Apis cerana on different pollen resources, we carried out a study to analyze the distribution of different types of pollen in honey in various regions of the coastal plains of the Western Ghats. Fourteen different honey samples from different sites ranging in elevation from 55m to 135m were collected and analyzed. Acetolysis and centrifugation were used for pollen extraction from different honey samples. The extracted pollen was mixed with glycerin jelly and transferred to a glass slide for microscopic analysis. The primary source of pollen as revealed by the current study were found to be Areca catechu, Cocos nucifera, Ixora coccinea, Mimosa pudica, and Psidium guajava. Morphotype analysis revealed 12 different plants to be the source of the pollen. Each honey sample collected from different locations, however, had only three to six types of pollen indicating that honeybees visit a narrow or a small number of pollen sources. Therefore, based on our study, we conclude that lesser types of pollen in each honey sample indicates that their food resources are getting limited. Therefore, it is necessary to conserve pollen resources for the better survival of honey bees and the environment.