Potential Floral Resources Available in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

The present paper listed about 49 bee plant species, which are well distributed and common in Bastar forestarea. The identified bee flora comprises of ornamentals, timber, medicinal, fruits, vegetables and othercommercial important plants like spices, pulses, cereals, oil yielding, fibre, fodder etc. Because of economic importance of the bee plants, they are not only protected but also propagated. Some of the common andimportant bee forage plants are, the species of Syzygium, Cassia, Citrus, Pongamia, Azadirachta, Brassica,Areca, Cocos, Guizotia, Hilianthus, Albezia, Lagerstroemia, Polyanthus, Sapindus, Tecoma etc. The paper reportsthat the bee-flora is diversified in the region and consists of both wild and cultivated, flowering duringdifferent months of the year. The flowering duration for each of the bee plant is provided to know the peakblooming period by the beekeeper. The state has all the four species of honeybees, i.e. Apisdorsata, Apisflorea, Apiscerana indica and Apis mellifera. However, Apis mellifera is very recently introduced in the state. InChhattisgarh, since pre-historical times beekeeping is practiced with Apiscerana indica.During the year1992 the Thai sac brood disease (TSBV) was very severe in the stateand the beekeepers lost most of theircolonies. This prompted the state government to introduceApis mellifera with a view to rehabilitate thepeople who were entirely depending on the beekeeping occupation. In addition to this, Khadi VillageIndustries Commission (KVIC) of the Ministry of Small Scale Industries, Government of India, and theDepartment of Industries and Commerce, Government Chhattisgarh have taken up several measures torevive Apiscerana beekeeping in the interest of the poor beekeepers and to strengthenbeekeeping for croppollination of large number of economically important crops through honeybees. The present status ofbeekeeping in the state is discussed.