Abstract
The flexibility and wide adaptation of buck wheat recently led it to be grown on different agro ecology, even though it is not native to our country. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of sowing date on growth, yield and honey bee foraging intensity of buckwheat at Bako Agriculture Research Center. There were 5 treatments with the first treatment sown on July, 15 having 10 days different between each treatments with three replications laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The experimental result showed that there was significance difference White seeded Variety (V2) of buckwheat having 37 days stay with flowering which is planted in the Mid July and early August with the mean value of about 31 days with extended flowering period and proceeds prolifically for about a month before gradually tapering off as the plant matures. From the result above buckwheat was mature in 11 weeks. The later buckwheat is planted, the faster it will mature. Therefore, speed of maturity depends on the planting date. Grain yield of buckwheat under different sowing date were highly significant (p ≤ 0.05) highest grain yield for both Varieties planted in mid July and late July with the lowest grain yield observed for both Varieties planted in the late August with the mean value of 14.40ku/ha. The result clearly indicates that foraging intensity of honey bees at different flowering stage of the buck wheat has been significantly different at first week flowering and second week of flowering stage with mean value of 36 and 31 bees/m<sup>2</sup>/10min. The intensive visitation of honey bees with the mean value of 22 bees/m<sup>2</sup>/10min and 13 bees/m<sup>2</sup>/10min at early in the morning (08:30-08:40 am) and (04:30-04:40 am) has been observed respectively.
Highlights
The flexibility and wide adaptation of buck wheat recently led it to be grown on different agro ecology, even though it is not native to our country
Grain yield of buck wheat under different sowing date were highly significant (p ≤ 0.05) highest grain yield for both Varieties planted in mid July and late July with the lowest grain yield observed for both Varieties planted in the late August with the mean value of 14.40 Q/ha
The result clearly indicate that length of the plant staying with flowering, grain yield, honey bee intensity at different flowering stage and time of bees visit at different time of the day of the study plant is affected by sowing dates
Summary
The flexibility and wide adaptation of buck wheat recently led it to be grown on different agro ecology, even though it is not native to our country. Flowering begins about three weeks after planting, and proceeds prolifically for a few weeks, before gradually tapering off as the plant matures. The prolific flowers on buckwheat have made the crop a good nectar source for honey bee keepers. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and are attractive to bees that use them to produce a special, strongly flavored, dark memorable honey. If planted early in the summer, and given good fertility, plants usually may take 10 to 12 weeks to mature [1]. The later buckwheat is planted, the faster it will mature. The reason to plant buckwheat relatively late is to push flowering into a period when nights are starting to cool down, which will normally be the case in late August or early September. In buckwheat, seed set is globally very low, around 15-30% which is the major constraint to buckwheat production worldwide [2]
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