Ujjwal Layek, Prakash Karmakar, and Pankaj Kumar Pal, from the different
institute of the India. wrote a research article about' Trianthema
Portulacastrum: Nourishing Apis florea Colonies in Dearth. entitled, Significance
of Trianthema portulacastrum L. in sustenance of Apis florea colonies during
dearth period. This research paper published by the International Journal of Biosciences | IJB. an open access scholarly research journal on Biology, under
the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences |
INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.
Abstract
The paper reports flowering phenology, floral visitors of Trianthema portulacastrum and
melissopalynological analyses of 8 honey samples and 374 pollen loads of Apis
florea, collected during May to August from Bankura district, West
Bengal. T. portulacastrum flowers during April to October. Flowers
open at 6.30-7.00 am in the morning. Anther dehiscence takes place after 30
minutes from flower opening. Closing of the flower takes place at about 11.30
am – 12.15 pm. During the opening phase of the flower, a number of visitors
viz. Apis cerana, A. florea, Augochloropsis metallica, Halictus sp., Pseudoborbo
bevani and Trigona iridipennis visit the flower for nectar or
pollen. Melissopalynological analyses revealed that all the honey samples were
multifloral in origin and T. portulacastrum present in all the honey
samples. Regarding the pollen foraging scenario of the bee species, T. portulacastrum also
played an important role during those months. The overall result reflects the
importance of T. portulacastrum as a major source of both nectar
and pollen grains for A. florea colonies during dearth period.
Introduction
Trianthema portulacastrum L. (Aizoaceae) commonly known as horse purslane in English and gadabani in Bengali vernacular, is a terrestrial, annual, prostrate herb indigenous to South Africa (Jeffrey, 1960; Adamson, 1962). The plant is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical countries including India as an invasive weed of cultivated fields and wastelands (Duthie, 1960; Holm et al., 1997). In India, though the plant regarded as a problematic weed by virtue of its infestation in various agricultural and vegetable crops especially during the rainy seasons (Balyan and Bhan, 1986; Simmons, 1986), the plant extract possess significant pharmacological activities such as diuretic, analgestic, hepatoprotective, anticarcinogenic, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and antibacterial properties (Kumar et al., 2004; Shanmugam et al., 2007; Shymsunder et al., 2009; Rattanata et al., 2014). In addition to the medicinal properties, the plant also serves as a source of nectar and pollen grains for many insects including Apis florea during late summer and monsoon.]
While investigating the foraging behavior of A. florea in Bankura district of West Bengal, it was found that flowering period of T. portulacastrum coincides with the foraging of A. florea during May – August. During this period, flowering plants supplying nectar and pollen grains to the bee species are less in number. Again availability of adequate sources of nectar and pollen is the most important limiting factor in the survival, abundance and distribution of honeybees (Kifle et al., 2014).
The present work was undertaken to work out the flowering phenology and floral visitors of T. portulacastrum and foraging behaviour of A. florea during May to August vis-à-vis to judge the efficacy of T. portulacastrum as a source of pollen grains and nectar for A. florea colonies during dearth period in Bankura district, West Bengal.
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