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Bìol. Tvarin. 2020; 22(1): 36–40.
https://doi.org/10.15407/animbiol22.01.036
Received 18.11.2019 ▪ Accepted 04.02.2020 ▪ Published online 01.05.2020

Flight activity of bee colonies at Acer spp. bee pollen collection

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine,
15 Heroiv Oborony str., Kyiv, 03041, Ukraine

The aim of the research was to investigate the flight activity of bee colonies during Acer spp. flowering, as a source of monofloral bee pollen. To achieve this goal the following tasks were set: to investigate the intensity of flight of bees during flowering of maples; to estimate the condition of bee colonies by the strength and quantity of brood after feeding with the elements of training for feed; to establish the pollen productivity of bee colonies during Acer spp. flowering. The common zootechnical methods of forming the analogue groups were used (control — standard maintenance; experiment — feeding with maple pollen); pollen productivity of bee colonies was evaluated by the amount of products received; the botanical origin of the bee pollen was determined by pollen analysis. It was found that the flight intensity of bees of the experimental group was higher than the control during the first accounting by an average of 38.5 %, the second by 30.0 % and the third by 19.4 %. According to the number of open and sealed broods, the experimental colonies outweighed the controls by 0.5 and 1 honeycomb at the first count and by 0.5 — at the second; by the amount of forage by 0.5 honeycomb at the first count and by 1 — at the second. The experimental colonies were found to have higher pollen productivity. The daily volume of yields in the experimental colonies ranged from 64 to 97 g with a maximum coefficient of variation of 9.6 %, and in controls — from 90 to 135 g, with a variation of 14.4 %. This suggests that the more flying bees are there in a colony, the more different work they do (collecting nectar, pollen, propolis, water), which can affect productivity over time. It has been established that stimulating feeding and training of bees have a positive effect on the increase in the pollen productivity of colonies. The average daily pollen productivity of the bee colonies of the experimental group was 104.3 g, and the control one — 79.3 g, which is less by 24 %. The weight of the raw pollen received was 2.7 kg from the experimental group and 2.1 kg from the control group, which is 22.2 % less. The difference in weight of the total collection was also caused by the larger mass of a single pollen clump out of the monofloral gathering, which outweighed the polyfloral (control group) by 28 %. Therefore, stimulating feeding of bee colonies with sugar dough with maple pollen increases their pollen productivity on harvesting monofloral bee pollen during Acer spp. flowering.

Key words: pollen, bee pollen, feeding, Acer, pollen productivity, bee training

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