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MOLECULAR CONFIRMATION OF TWO HONEYBEE SPECIES (Apis mellifera L. and A. cerana F.) IN APIARY AND THEIR FORAGING BEHAVIOR IN LITCHI ORCHARD

The foraging of honeybees is one of the most well-organized and admirable behaviors that exists among social insects and being greatly influenced by nectarine sources and habitat adaptability. In Bangladesh, apiculture is mostly confined to rearing of European honeybee Apis mellifera L. despite of having the native A. cerana F. due to lack of information about comparative foraging efficiency and productibility of two species in Asian cropland ecosystem. The present study aimed to molecular characterization of two honeybee species in apiary and their foraging performance on litchi orchard. The genetic identity was revealed thorough phylogenetic analysis with >90% bootstrap value using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase sub unit- 1 (CO1) gene and nucleotide sequence data deposited to NCBI GenBank with accession number ON680900- ON680902 for A. mellifera and ON703291-ON703293 of A. cerana. Upon placing the identified bee hives in litchi orchard, the foraging efficiency were studied based on egression and ingression rate, number of bees visited flowers per minutes, and nectar and pollen collection efficiency in varied time series of the day. Principal component analysis (PCA) for measuring the contribution of different foraging parameters and the species wise PCA biplot revealed the better foraging efficiency by A. mellifera L. compared to A. cerana F. in litchi blooms. However, foraging efficiency of other nectarine sources should be analyzed for suggesting best performing bee species in apiculture.