Melittopalynological studies on pollen load of Apis cerana indica from Pauni region of Bhandara district (Maharashtra). Bramhankar K.B., Ghugal S. I., Rahile B. S. S.S. E. S. Amaravati's Science CollegePauniDist.- Bhandara Online published on 17 October, 2020. Abstract The forest area of Pauni region (District Bhandara, Maharashtra State ) is of mix deciduous type forest along with agricultural tracks, which provides a rich diversity of pollen grains. Honeybees play an important role in cross pollination of various indigenous, wild, cultivated, agricultural and horticultural crop plants, resulting into substantial increasing in their yield associated with an improvement in the quality of the crops. Present study was undertaken on bee fauna of Pauni region, which include analysis of pollen pollen load of domesticated honey bee Apis cerana indica, during summer season of 2016. During qualitative analysis of pollen load on honeybees, out of 110 pollen loads, 65 ( 59.9 % ) pollen loads were found to be unifloral, 5 (4.54 % ) bifloral and 40 (36.36 %) multifloral. The plants contributing their pollen grains included Psidium guajava, Alangium salvifolium, Citrus sps., Pongamia pinnata, Parthenium hysterophorus, Mangifera indica, Azadiracta indica, Sonchus olaraceous, Tridax procumbens, Sphaeranthus indicus, Solanum sps., Coriandrum sativum, Physalis minima, Albezia lebbeck, Acasia nilotica, Poaceae sp., Terminalia sps. Sapindus detergens and Bombax ceiba. In all nineteen pollen types, belonging to the plants of fourteen families were obtained from pollen load on the honeybees of Pauni region. Top Key words Apis cerana indica, Pollen load, Unifloral, Bifloral, Multifloral. Top |