Honeybee Visiting and Floral Nectar Characteristics of Styrax japonicus Sieb. & Zucc

Abstract

This study was conducted to prove possibility of honey tree, which analyzed the visited number of honeybees, secreted nectar volume, nectar sugar content and amino acid in addition to estimating honey quantities that can ultimately reap in flowers of Styrax japonicus Sieb. & Zucc.. The surveyed tree’s flowers bloom during 12 days and maximum blooming period of flowers was on 23 rd to 25 th May in 2013. Honeybee visited flowers in priority and visited number of honeybee per flowering lateral bunch can be assumed 290 honeybees for a day. Honeybee visiting was concentrated at around 10~11 a.m.. On average, nectar volume secreted by nectary was 1.13 ul from one flower and nectar concentration (w/w %) presented 39.6%. Sugar content were calculated at 71.0 ug per flower which was estimated by multiplying secreted nectar volume (ul/flower) by nectar sugar (ug/ul). The minimum estimate of honey harvest for official tree (15 years, Height = 3m, Diameter at breast height = 12cm) in this study was 3,032 mg. Result of amino acid content ratio showed that Proline, Glutamate, Hydroproline, Serine, Asparagine were more abundant than others. Especially, Proline percentages (40.4%) were highest among the other amino acids. Finally, the surveyed tree is considered as possible honey plant because of its nectar characteristics and honeybee visiting. Honey is made of nectar sugar as well as by digestive system of honeybee, therefore a more associated study is necessary to analyze free sugar component in nectar and accurately presume to harvest honey quantity.