Diversity of bee foraging flora and floral calendar of Chandigarh region (U.T.), India during winter and summer season

Abstract

The study was conducted at Chandigarh during winter and summer seasons to identify existing bee flora and to determine honey flow and dearth period. Visual observations were done to know the presence of honey bees and their foraging activities on different plants. Plants were reported as bee foraging species when at least 50% honey bee frequency was observed on them. Results concluded that winter season has 21 plant taxa of 11 families and summer has 50 plant taxa of 28 families. The identified flora was further grouped into nectar, pollen and both nectar and pollen sources. Results also revealed that winter has 7 and summer has 16 bee forage plants which provide both pollen and nectar in good quantity to honey bees. Late summer and raining seasons were identified as critical dearth period. Based on the availability of flora and their utility status the bee floral calendar was developed for Chandigarh. The result indicated that some parts of Chandigarh has rich bee flora in these seasons. By multiplying those highly preferred bee forage plants equally in all parts of different sub- divisions of Chandigarh, commercial bee keeping could be increased in future for economic purposes.