Identification of Bee Forage Plants by Pollen Analysis of <i>Apis cerana</i> Honey Collected from Tropical Areas of Tumkur District, Karnataka, India

Abstract

The present work refers to the pollen analysis of 10 honey samples collected from 4 different locations of Tumkur district, Karnataka State, India. The honey samples were collected from the domestic bee hives of Apis cerana, subjected to physico-chemical and pollen analysis to determine color, optical density and botanical origin of honey. The color of the honey sample varies from light yellow to dark red color and optical density of honey samples varies from 0.258 to 0.991. Pollen analysis indicated that the study areas comprised of diverse bee flora. Out of 10 samples analyzed, the predominant pollen types were identified in 6 samples, where Mimosa pudica was represented in 2 samples. Cocos nucifera, Mangifera indica, Eucalyptus globulus and Syzygium cumini pollen types were reported as predominant pollen from one sample each and making these honey unifloral. The remaining 4 samples were multifloral where predominant pollen types were not identified. From the results, it is clear that the factors like vegetation, pollen spectra and chemical analysis revealed a lot of potentiality in establishing bee keeping industries in the study areas. Beekeeping is an added source of income to amplify the economic upliftment without much investment.