Bee pasturage

Definition of BEE PASTURAGE
Bee Forage
Pollen
Nectar
Propolis
Floral fidelity
Pollen & nectar source plants
How to improve pasture

1. Bee pasturage By, A.SURESH

2. WHAT IS BEE PASTURAGE? Plants that yield pollen and nectar are collectively called bee pasturage or bee forage. India having a wide varieties of floral geography and the bee pasturage also varies. 

3. Foraging Collection of nectar and pollen by bees. NECTAR Nectar is a sweet secretion from the floral and extra floral nectarines of blossoms. It is the basic raw product of honey. It consists of dissolved sugar i.e Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose.

4. Pollen Pollen is a highly proteinaceous food for bees. The plants that produce only pollen are called pollen plants. It provides the bees all their requirements of amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Propolis Propolis is a resinous substance which is gathered mainly from buds and bark of trees like alder,chestnut and wounds of woody plants. It is used for sealing up cracks in the hive or nest and reducing the size of the entrance. 

5. Cont.. Propolis contains more than 300 different substances. They are divided into 55% resins and balms , 30% wax , 10% etheric oils and 5% pollen. Propolis contains all the known vitamins, except vitamin K, and it has 15 minerals needed by the human body to function normally (it does not contain sulfur ).

6. WATER Water is required inside the hive to regulate the temperature and to dilute stored honey. Much water is collected in early spring. The colony survives on its stored honey during the hot summer weather.

7. Nectar foragers These collect nectar from flowers using lapping tongue and pass the nectar to hive bees. Hive bees repeatedly pass the nectar between pre oral cavity and tongue to ripen the honey. Later they drop the ripened honey into cells.

8. POLLEN FORAGERS They collect pollen by passing through different flowers. Pollen sticking to the body is removed by using pollen comb. Then it is packed using pollen brush into corbicula or pollen basket. A single bee carries 10 to 30 mg of pollen which is 25 per cent of bee's weight. Then the pollen is dislodged by middle leg into cells. Pollen is mixed with honey and stored.

9. Floral fidelity A bee visits same species of plant for pollen and nectar collection until the source is exhausted. This is known as floral fidelity. Bees travel 2 to 3 km distance to collect pollen and nectar.

10. Nectar source plants Tamarind Moringa Neem Prosopis juliflora Soapnut tree Glyricidia maculata Eucalyptus Tribulus terrestris pungam .

11. Pollen source plants Sorghum Sweet potato Maize Tobacco Millets like C umbu , T enai , V aragu , R agi Coconut Roses Pomegranate Castor Date palm

12. BOTH POLLEN AND NECTAR SOURCE PLANTS Banana Peach Citrus Guava Apple Sunflower Berries Safflower Pear Mango Plum.

13. How to Improve Pasture for Bees? Seeding agricultural honey cultures and planting honey trees and bushes in orchards. Oilseed and red clover, phacelia and sunflower 2) Planting honey trees and bushes in protective areas, beside roads, water sources, in populated places, in unused area, in forests. Apple, acacia, pagoda tree, wild and sweet chestnut, silver leaf maple, maple. 3) Improving natural pastures by over seeding grass and fertilizing. Adding phosphorus-potassium fertilizer (up to increase of 90%) and by nitrogen 18%.

14. Cont … 4) Including honey producing plants in annual and perennial cultures for feeding cattle (growing it with other cultures). Corn with sunflower, corn with annual clover, sweet clover and alfalfa . 5 ) Planting of honey plants on a unused soil, among the fruits and for green fertilizer.  Mustard and sweet clover .

15. Cont … 6) Prolonging blooming by planting plants on several occasions, planting before winter and harvesting on several occasions. Mustard, buckwheat, clover and white clover . 7 ) Immediately planting after harvesting of crop. Wheat to cattle food or green fertilizer.  8) Best agricultural measures.