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Pollen analysis of some Apis cerana Fabr honeys fromAndhra Pradesh, India

P Jhansi, Tp Kalpana, Cgk Ramanujam

To cite this version:P Jhansi, Tp Kalpana, Cgk Ramanujam. Pollen analysis of some Apis cerana Fabr honeys fromAndhra Pradesh, India. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 1994, 25 (3), pp.289-296. �hal-00891157�

Original article

Pollen analysis of some Apis cerana Fabr honeysfrom Andhra Pradesh, India

P Jhansi TP Kalpana, CGK Ramanujam

Palaeobotany-Palynology Laboratory, Post Graduate College of Science, Osmania University,Saifabad, Hyderabad, India

(Received 12 July 1992; accepted 2 September 1993)

Summary — Pollen analyses of 6 apiary (extracted) honey samples collected during March and June,1982 from 3 districts, Vishakhapatnam (2), East Godavari (1) and Guntur (3) of Andhra Pradesh in thesouthern part of India, showed that these honeys come from 2 discrete floristic regimes: deciduous for-est (Vishakhapatnam and East Godavari) and agricultural tracts (Guntur). The East Godavari honey wasunifloral with Anogeissus latifolia (48.67%) as the predominant pollen type. The remaining samples weremultifloral. Lagerstroemia parviflora, Crotalaria juncea and Schleichera oleosa constitute the chiefnectar sources of the forest area of Vishakhapatnam during late summer. Borassus flabellifer, Hygrophilasp, Crotalaria juncea, Cucumis sp, Phyla nodiflora and Momordica charantia, however, represent themain bee plants of the agricultural tracts of the Guntur district during the summer.

Apis cerana / honey pollen analysis / nectar plant / India

INTRODUCTION

Pollen analysis of honeys encompassingqualitative and quantitative methodology isof great significance in apiculture. Identifi-cation of bee plants from diverse geographicareas and florisitic communities helpsimmensely in the development of bee-keep-ing industry. Melittopalynological studieshave received to date only marginal attentionin various parts of India and particularly soin Andhra Pradesh, a major state in southIndia.

Nair (1964), Seethalakshmi (1980) andChanda and Ganguly (1981) carried outpollen analysis of a few honey samples from

Andhra Pradesh. During the last decade,serious efforts have been made in pollenanalytical studies of honeys from this state.Jhansi and Ramanujam (1986,1987,1990)provided pollen analysis of some extractedand squeezed honeys from various parts ofAndhra Pradesh. Kalpana and Ramanujam(1989, 1991) and Kalpana etal (1990) car-ried out detailed qualitative and quantitativepollen analytical studies of squeezed honeysof Apis florea Fabr and A cerana Fabr fromthe Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts.

The present contribution forms part of amore comprehensive study of pollen analy-sis of diverse apiary and squeezed honeysfrom different parts of Andhra Pradesh. It

is aimed mainly at recognizing and screen-ing the key bee plants from 2 varied floristicregimes: deciduous forest and agriculturaltracts of 3 districts to help promote the bee-keeping industry at these places.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Six apiary honey samples (500 g each) of A cer-ana, the Indian hive bee, were collected from 3districts of Andhra Pradesh in 1982 (fig 1). Thedistricts from which the samples were collectedinclude Vishakhapatnam (2 samples, CHE-2 andCHE-4), East Godavari (1 sample, CHE-9) andGuntur (3 samples, CHE-12, CHE-13 andCHE-16) (table I). The samples CHE-2, CHE-4,CHE-9, CHE-12 and CHE-13 were collected inJune (late summer) whereas CHE-16 was col-lected in March (early summer). The samplesCHE-2, CHE-4 and CHE-9 are from a deciduousforest area and CHE-12, CHE-13 and CHE-16are from an agricultural area.

Honey (1 ml) was dissolved in 10 ml distilledwater and centrifuged. The recovered sedimentwas treated with 5 ml glacial acetic acid and themixture was subjected to acetolysis (Erdtman,1960). Three pollen slides were prepared for eachsample. The recovered pollen types were identi-fied with the help of reference slide collection of

local flora and relevant literature. As far as pos-sible, the pollen types were identified to thegeneric and specific levels. In some cases, how-ever, only family identification was possible. Afew types that could not be identified even interms of family were designated ’unknown’.

For determining the frequency classes ofpollen types, 300 pollen grains were counted (100per slide). As recommended by the InternationalCommission for Bee Botany (Louveaux et al,1978), 4 frequency classes were recognized: pre-dominant pollen type (> 45%); secondary pollentypes (16-45%); important minor pollen types(3-15%); and minor pollen types (< 3%).

Unacetolysed honey samples were examinedin order to calculate the ratio between honeydewelements (fungal spores and hyphae, algae andwax particles of honeydew-producing insects)and pollen grains (Louveaux et al, 1978). Themethod recommended by Suryanarayana et al(1981) was employed to determine the absolutepollen counts (APC) of honey samples.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Altogether 51 pollen types (49 of nectar-yielding and 2 of non-nectar-yielding taxa)referable to 36 families (34 of nectar-yield-ing and 2 of non-nectar-yielding taxa) were

recorded in the samples studied. SampleCHE-2 from Vishakhapatnam district hadthe maximum number of pollen types (28),whereas CHE-12 from Guntur district had

the minimum number (9). Samples from theforest area of Vishakhapatnam district,CHE-2 (28) and CHE-4 (26), had morepollen types than those from agriculturalarea of Guntur district, CHE-12 (9), CHE-13(13) and CHE-16 (16). The honey from EastGodavari (CHE-9) had intermediate numberof pollen types, ie 16 (fig 2).

The sample CHE-9, obtained from EastGodavari district, was found to be unifloralwith Anogeissus latifolia (48.67%) as thepredominant pollen type. Phyllanthus L sp(35.67%) constitutes the secondary pollentype of this sample. The rest of the sam-ples, CHE-2 and CHE-4 from Vishakhap-atnam district and CHE-12, CHE-13 andCHE-16 from Guntur district, were all mul-tifloral.

Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb, Crota-laria juncea L, Schleichera oleosa (Lour)

Oken, Merremia Dennst ex Endi sp, Cheno-podium album L, Capparis grandis L, Albizialebbeck L, Tridax procumbens L, Syzygiumcumini (L) Skeels, Grewia L sp, Medicagosativa L and Jasminum L sp are the signif-icant bee plants of Vishakhapatnam district.Those of East Godavari district are Anogeis-sus latifolia (DC) Wallicher Guillemin andPerrottet, Phyllanthus sp, Schleichera oleosaand Terminalia L sp. The important nectar-yielding bee plants of the Guntur district areBorassus flabellifer L, Hygrophila R Br sp,Crotalaria juncea, Cucumis L sp, Phyla nodi-flora (L) E Greene, Momordica charantia L,Citrus limon (L) Burm, Brassica nigra Koch,Tridax procumbens L, Sphaeranthus indi-cus L and Cocos nucifera L.

The degree of similarity in any pair ofhoney samples collected during the sameperiod can also be quantified by using asimilarity index, calculated using the for-

mula 2c/(a + b), where a and b representthe number of pollen types in each of thesamples and c represents the number ofpollen types common to both the samples.An index value of more than 0.5 representsa close degree of similarity between thesamples. The lower the similarity index, themore the diversity between samples. TableII shows the similarity index values betweenthe multifloral honey samples from the decid-uous forest area of Vishakhapatnam andagricultural tracts of Guntur districts, all col-lected in the month of June. Honey sam-ples from the same floristic region providehigh index values compared with those fromdifferent regions.

Cyperus rotundus and Gramineae repre-sent the pollen types of anemophilous (non-nectar-yielding) taxa in the present study.The presence of these pollen types in lowpercentages could be due to contamination

by bees themselves (Iwama and Melhem,1979).

Fungal spores (Drechslera and

Nygrospora) and shreds of hyphae are thehoneydew elements recorded in the sam-ples analysed. HDE/P ratio ranged from0.003-0.01 and can thus be compared withthe ’practically none’ group (Louveaux etal, 1978).

Based upon the absolute pollen counts,the honey samples CHE-2 and CHE-4were referred to group III, and CHE-9 togroup IV. The remaining 3 samples wereplaced in group II.

The colour of the samples from visualobservation ranged from yellow to darkamber. The moisture content of the sam-

ples varied from 21.2 to 25.0%. The sampleswith moisture content of 23-25% represent’unripe’ honeys (table I).

Photographs of some of the significantpollen types are shown in figure 3.

Lagerstroemia parviflora, Crotalariajuncea and Schleichera oleosa are the chiefnectar sources in the deciduous forest areas

(Chinthapally and Lothugadda) of Vishakha-patnam district during late summer. Mer-remia sp, Chenopodium album, Capparisgrandis, Albizia lebbeck, Tridax procum-bens, Grewia sp, Syzygium cumini, Med-icago sativa and Jasminum sp serve asother useful sources of nectar in theseareas. In a more recent study involving thepollen analysis of a forest honey samplefrom this district Jhansi and Ramanujam(1990) also considered Lagerstroemia andSyzygium as useful sources of nectar.

Anogeissus latifolia, Phyllanthus sp,Schleichera oleosa and Terminalia sp appearto be important nectar sources near Bom-muru in East Godavari district. In the agri-cultural tracts of Guntur district (Dandamudiand Tenali), however, Borassus flabellifer,Hygrophila sp, Crotalaria juncea, Cucumissp, Phyla nodiflora and Momordica charan-tia are the chief nectar-yielding plants during

summer, and Citrus limon, Brassica nigra,Tridax procumbens, Sphaeranthus indicusand Cocos nucifera also serve as useful nec-tar sources. In an earlier study (Seethalak-shmi, 1980), Borassus, Phyla and Hygrophilawere recognized as significant bee-forageplants in the agricultural tracts of Guntur dis-trict. Further, Jhansi and Ramanujam (1986,1990) also highlighted Borassus, Hygrophila(which they identified as Asteracantha) alongwith Citrus as reliable nectar sources for the

honey bees of this district.The present work thus facilitates recog-

nition of honeys from deciduous forest andagricultural areas of the coastal belt ofAndhra Pradesh.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are thankful to Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission, AP and Sivaramaiahmemorial apiaries at Tenali of Guntur district forproviding honey samples.

Résumé &mdash; Analyse pollinique dequelques miels d’Apis cerana Fabr del’Andhra Pradesh, Inde. L’analyse polli-nique porte sur 6 échantillons de miel pré-levés dans des ruchers en mars et juin 1982dans 3 districts de l’Andhra Pradesh dans le

sud de l’Inde (fig 1). Les échantillons pro-venaient de 2 régions floristiques diffé-rentes : forêt à feuilles caduques (Visha-khapatnam et East Godavari) et régionagricole (Guntur). Ils ont été analysés selonla méthode proposée par Louveaux et al(1978). On a déterminé un total de 51 typespolliniques (dont 2 de plantes non nectari-fères, parmi lesquelles Cyperus rotundus) serapportant à 36 familles (dont 2 familles deplantes non nectarifères, Gramineae etCyperaceae). La figure 2 donne le nombrede taxons et de familles de plantes nectari-fères et non nectarifères pour chacun des

échantillons. Le miel du district d’East Goda-

vari était monofloral avec Anogeissus latifoliacomme pollen prédominant et Phyllanthussp comme pollen secondaire. Les autreséchantillons étaient des miels toutes fleurs.

Lagerstroemia parviflora, Crofalaria junceaL et Schleichera oleosa sont les principalessources de nectar à la fin de l’été dans lesforêts à feuilles caduques du district deVishakhapatnam et Borassus flabellifer,Hygrophila sp, Crotalaria juncea, Cucumissp, Phyla nodiflora et Momordica charantiales principales plantes nectarifères de l’étédans la zone agricole du district de Guntur.Le tableau I donne les caractéristiques deséchantillons : couleur, teneur en eau, teneurabsolue en pollen (calculée d’après Surya-narayana et al, 1981 ). La figure 3 regroupedes microphotographies de quelques pol-lens importants. Le degré de similitude entremiels pris 2 à 2 peut être mesuré par la for-mule 2c/a+b, où a et b représentent lenombre de types polliniques dans chacundes 2 échantillons et c le nombre de typespolliniques communs aux 2 échantillons. Letableau II donne la valeur de l’indice des 6

paires de miels toutes fleurs récoltés enjuin. Les échantillons provenant d’une mêmerégion floristique ont un indice de similaritéélevé. D’après la teneur absolue en pollen,les échantillons appartiennent aux groupesII, III et IV. Le rapport HDE/P (indicateur demiellat) est pratiquement nul pour tous leséchantillons. L’étude permet de reconnaîtrefacilement les miels de diverses régions flo-ristiques.

Apis cerana / miel / analyse pollinique /plante mellifère / Inde

Zusammenfassung &mdash; Pollenanalyse eini-ger Honige von Apis cerana Fabr ausAndhra Pradesh, Indien. Diese Arbeitberichtet über die eingehende Pollenana-lyse von sechs Honigproben, gesammeltim März und Juni 1982 in drei Distrikten von

Andhra Pradesh, Südindien, und zwar: Vis-hakhapatnam, 2 Proben (CHE-2, CHE-4);East Godavari, 1 Probe (CHE-9); und Gun-tur, 3 Proben (CHE-12, CHE-13, CHE-16)(Abb 1). Die Proben stammten aus zwei flo-ristisch verschiedenen Regionen, Laubwald(Vishakhapatnam und East Godavari) undeinem landwirdschaftlich genutzten Gebiet(Guntur). Die Proben wurden nach der vonLouveaux et al vorgeschlagenen Methodeanalysiert. Insgesamt wurden in den ana-lysierten Honigen 51 Pollentypen (49 vonNektarpflanzen und 2 von nektarlosen Taxa)aus 36 Familien (davon 34 mit nektarab-scheidenden Pflanzen) beobachtet. Grami-neae und Cyperus rotundus stellten die bei-den nektarlosen Gruppen. Die Anzahl derTaxa und Familien mit Nektar- und nektar-losen Pflanzen ist aus Abbildung 2 ersicht-lich. Die Honigprobe aus East Godavari(CHE-9) war unifloral mit Anogeissus lati-folia als Leitpollen und Phyllanthus sp alsBegleitpollen. Alle übrigen Proben warenmultifloral. Lagerstroemia parviflora, Cro-talaria juncea und Schleichera oleosa bil-den in dem Waldgebiet von Vishakhapat-nam im Spätsommer die wichtigstenNektarquellen. Hingegen stellen im Kultur-land von Guntur im Sommer Borassus fla-

bellifer, Hygrophila sp, Crotalaria juncea,Cucumis sp, Phyla nodiflora und Momor-dica charantia die wichtigsten Bienenpflan-

zen. Die Charakterisierung der Honigpro-ben, wie Farbe, Wassergehalt (%) undGesamtpollengehalt sind in Tabelle I zusam-mengestellt. Abbildung 3 zeigt Mikrophoto-graphien einiger signifikanter Pollentypen.Der Ähnlichkeitsgrad zwischen zwei belie-bigen Honigproben kann nach der Formel2c/a+b quantifiziert werden, wobei a und bdie Anzahl der Pollentypen in jedem der bei-den Honige darstellt, und c die Zahl der inbeiden Proben gemeinsam vorkommendenTypen. Tabelle II zeigt die Indexwerte vonsechs Paaren im Juni gesammelter multi-floraler Honige. Proben aus derselben flori-stischen Region zeigten einen hohen Ähn-lichkeitsindex. Auf der Basis der absoluten

Pollenzahlen, bestimmt nach dem Verfahrenvon Suryanarayana et al (1981) könnten dieProben den Gruppen II, III and IV zuge-rechnet werden. HDE/P wurde in allen Pro-ben als ’praktisch Null’ bestimmt. Diese Stu-die erleichtert die Erkennung von Honigenaus verschiedenen floristischen Regionen.

Apis cerana / Honig / Pollenanalyse /Nektarpflanze / Indien

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