Important Plants for Honey Production in Four Agro Ecological Zones of Uganda
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Bee World
Abstract
The diet of honey bees consists of
protein-rich pollen and sugar-rich nectar
collected separately or synchronously
from flowers by foraging worker bees
(Kajobe, 2006, 2007). These resources are
collected in quantities that exceed colony
demands and are stored for dearth
periods. The nectar is converted into
honey and pollen stored as bee bread
(Anderson et al., 2014; Nicolson, 2011).
While collecting nectar and pollen, bees
deposit pollen from anthers to the stigma
resulting in pollination and increased fruit
set (Vidal, Jong, Wien, & Morse, 2010). In
the USA, Morse and Calderone (2000)
estimated the value of crop production
achieved through pollination by honey
bees alone at $14.6 billion. The value of
honey production by bees in Africa is
169,306 tons (faostat.org 2013). Some
plants have been observed to be heavily
visited by the honey bees while others are
less frequently visited (Bendifallah,
Louadi, & Doumandji, 2013; Couvillon
et al., 2015). Nectar and pollen resource
depletion induced by prolonged wet
seasons or overheating in the dry seasons
is known to cause migration or absconding
in African honey bees (Hepburn,
2006; Winston, Otis, & Taylor, 1978).
Description
Keywords
Plants, Honey Production, Agro Ecological Zones, Uganda
Citation
Agnes S. Otim, Robert Kajobe, Patrick P’Odyek Abila, Patrice Kasangaki & Richard Echodu (2019) Important Plants for Honey Production in Four Agro Ecological Zones of Uganda, Bee World, 96:3, 81-86, DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.2019.1608892