Vol. 10, Special Issue 6 (2021)

Author(s):
Deepayan Padhy, V Ramalakshmi, Lipsa Dash, Dr. Sudhanshu Bala Nayak and Dr. Nihal R

Abstract:
Growth of the profitable beekeeping industry totally dependent upon the bee species, bee colony selection, bee management and bee forage. The research investigations were conducted in Apiary Unit situated at M S Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha. To investigate the mean pollen carrying capacity of workers at different times of the day in the study period and mean pollen stores and honey stores of foraging bees at all seasons of the study period and also pollen and honey area were recorded simultaneously. The present investigation has concluded that the pollen foraging activity decreased at higher ambient temperatures. The pollen carrying capacity was more during winter months followed by summer and rainy season. The peak pollen gathering activity was observed during 09:00 AM followed by 12:00 PM and 03:00 PM of the day. Higher honey area was observed during summer season whereas higher pollen area was observed during winter months of the year in the combs. The rainy season regarded as dearth period neither is a good time for pollen load nor for honey production.