Influence of day hours, temperature and relative humidity on bee- visitation in calendula, Calendula officinalis L. and justicia, Justicia gendarussa L.

SEEMA SINGH THAKUR, SUDHA KANAUJIA and D. C. KARNATAK

Department of Entomology,

 College of Agriculture,

G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology,

Pantnagar- 263 145(U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand)

ABSTRACT

 Studies were. undertaken to observe the influence of day hours, temperature and relative humidity on bee-visitation in calendula, Calendula offlcinalis L. and justicia, Justicia gendarussa L. The number of Apis species was counted for 3 minutes on randomly selected flowers/panicles from 09:00 to 17:00h at hourly interval. Temperature and relative humidity were simultaneously noted down on 2002 Apis dorsata and Apis mellifera were found to be visiting calendula flowers plant. During the period of observation the air temperature varied from 19°C to 28°C and relative humidity 65 to 85 per cent. In justicia the major Apis foragers included Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera and Apis cerana indica. During the period of observation, the air temperature varied from 28°C to 36°C and relative humidity from 57 per cent to 72 per cent. A. florea did not visit the flowers throughout the day.