Weeds as an essential component of sustainable meliponiculture practices in organic agroecosystem

Abstract

Knowledge of bee flora is key information for sustainable meliponiculture practices. Aiming to stablish the plant species used by the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula used as food sources during the year in an organic agroecosystem, this study identified the pollen grains in the pollen loads of worker bees. The pollen load of bees returning to hives was collected bi-monthly for one year, summing 240 pollen loads analyzed by optical microscopy. We found 76 pollen types in the pollen loads, of which 60% were of weeds. The plants most frequently identified in the pollen loads were: Alchornea, Arracacia xanthorrhiza, Baccharis, Bidens pilosa, Brassica juncea, Brassica oleracea, Byrsonima sp., Cecropia, Chamaecrista, Citrus sp., Crotalaria sp., Croton, Datura, Eucalyptus, Hyptis, Lippia alba, Mangifera indica, Melastomataceae sp., Momordica charantia, Myrsine, Pereskia aculeata, Persea americana, Piptadenia, Pisum sativum, Plinia peruviana, Pluchea, Poaceae, Prunus persica, Psidium guajava, Raphanus sativus, Rubus urticifolius, Schefflera, and Schinus. Bees foraged mostly on weeds, especially during winter and autumn, and so the presence of weeds can be very beneficial to meliponiculture practices. The by-products of meliponiculture in agroecosystems are derived from diversified botanical sources, that is, wild honey of good quality because it is from an organic system.