Pattern of nectar secretion in wild cherry, Prunus puddum Roxb, and the associated foraging behaviour of Apis cerana indica F and Apis mellifera L
1990; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1051/apido
ISSN1297-9678
AutoresJyoti Gupta, Milkuri Chiranjeeva Reddy, Jitendra Kumar,
Tópico(s)Insect and Pesticide Research
Resumo— Nectar sugar production per flower of Prunus puddum (during 8 h of flower opening) was 4•15 mg, when the nectar was removed at short intervals, compared to 1•89 mg/flower in flow- ers of the same age where nectar was allowed to accumulate.Similarly, nectar removal every 24 h after flower opening resulted in more nectar sugar production.Flowers where nectar was allowed to accumulate resorbed nectar.Analysis of nectar revealed the presence of glucose, fructose, sucrose and 1 unidentified sugar.Honeybees (Apis cerana indica and A mellifera) foraged both for nectar and pollen on the flowers.The activity of pollen gatherers peaked during early morning hours (8-9 h) and that of nectar gatherers at 11 h.A mellifera spent more time per flower than Ac indica, whether foraging for nectar or pollen.Honeybees preferred 24-and 48-h old flowers to freshly opened flow- ers or those older than 48 h.Apis mellifera / Apis cerana indica /
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