Biotech Studies 2016, Vol 25, Num, 2     (Pages: 188-194)

Importance of Berseem Clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) and Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia B.) Plants in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) Preference

Ahmet KUVANCI 1 ,Metin DEVECİ 2 ,Fatih ALAY 3 ,Necda ÇANKAYA 3 ,Mustafa AVCI 4

1 Arıcılık Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü, Ordu
2 Ordu Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Tarla Bitkileri Bölümü, Ordu
3 Karadeniz Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü, Samsun
4 Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi, Bitkisel Üretim ve Teknolojileri Bölümü, Niğde
DOI : 10.21566/tarbitderg.281893 - This study was established in Samsun Karadeniz Agricultural Research Institute Campus in test field area in 2014. Study was carried out by sowing phacelia and berseem clover in two different fields each of 100 m2. It was planned to get same blooming period of plants. Six bee colonies were placed near to the test field before blooming. Counting about bee visitings were made in blooming periods according to 1 m² field and 3 different times 09:00-12:00-15:00 o`clock in 5 minutes once in a day. We set up pollen traps everyday and counting the pollens daily during the flowering period. Average numbers of honey bee visitings were 72.74 number/m2 for phacelia plant and 53.90 number/m2 for berseem clover plant in 5 minutes period. It was found that most crowded visiting was 165.72 number/m2 in 11th day of 30 days. The lowest visiting was first and last three days of blooming period. Average numbers of honey bee visitings were 56.24, 71.93, 61.80 number/m2 at 09:00, 12:00 and15:00o`clock respectively. It is defined 6.87 pollen pallet from phacelia plant and 2.91 pollen pallet from berseem plant in randomly chosen 200 pollen packages. Berseem plant had the maximum flower quantity by 33600 flowers/number in m2, phacelia had 9500 flowers/m2. This study showed that berseem clover is an important plant for apiculture although not as important as phacelia plant which is very special for apiculture. Keywords : Honeybee, berseem clover, phacelia, pollen