© Kamla-Raj 2019 J Agri Sci, 10(1-2): 13-19 (2019) PRINT: ISSN 0976-6898 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6535 DOI: 10.31901/24566535.2019/10.1-2.128 Availability of Nectar and Pollen Sources for Honey Bees in Oman Hossam F. Abou-Shaara Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Damanhour University, Damanhour, 22516, Egypt E-mail: [email protected] KEYWORDS Colonies. Feeding Flowering. Flora. Plants ABSTRACT Currently, beekeeping contributes in the economic development of many countries. This agricultural activity has gained more attention in various countries during the last few years, and beekeeping activities are increasing rapidly in Oman. The availability of many food sources to honey bees is very essential for the development of beekeeping. Thus, listing potential honey bee plants is very essential to help boosting beekeeping. In this paper, previous studies on honey bee plants in Oman as well as potential honey bee plants are reviewed. In fact, few studies have been conducted on bee plants in Oman. A good number of plant species including fruits, field crops, vegetables and wild plants that can feed honey bees were surveyed as shown in this review. The flowering period of these plants can cover the whole year. This study can be considered as an essential step towards understanding the bee flora in Oman. INTRODUCTION OBSERVATIONS Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are considered Omani Beekeeping as major pollinators to many plants (Morse and Calderone 2000; Reyes-Carrillo et al. 2007; Bla- The Sultanate of Oman is located in the south zyte-Cereskiene et al. 2010), and additional ben- eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula with a efits from honey bees can be obtained including total area of about 300,000 km2. Oman is general- the valuable products from the colonies; honey, ly considered a sub-tropical country with hot pollen and royal jelly. Therefore, honey bees can and dry climate. Coastal areas of Northern Oman be considered as sources of income for many and Musandam receive irregular rains mostly people and as means for rural development during autumn, winter and early spring, with in- (Chazovachii et al. 2013; Qaiser et al. 2013). It is terior areas and mountains receiving additional well known that honey bees depend on plants rains. The coastal areas and south-facing moun- to gather carbohydrate food (that is, nectar) as tains of the southern region of Dhofar are af- well as protein food (that is, pollens) (Crailsheim fected by the monsoon starting in mid to late et al. 1992; Huang 2012; Abou-Shaara 2014; June and until mid to late September, with the Abou-Shaara 2015a). remaining months being generally rainless but mostly humid. The central area of Oman is very Objective dry and windy most of the year with high tem- perature. The eastern side of northern Oman is Increasing beekeeping activity is highly re- occasionally affected by storms. The topograph- lated to the availability of honey bee plants. ic features of Oman include the Hajar mountains Thus, listing these plants and classifying them of northern Oman, and the famous mountains according to their potential benefit to honey are Jabal AlAkhdhar and Jabal Shams, which bees are essential to help enhance beekeeping contain the highest peak in Oman. (Abou-Shaara 2015b). In this review, potential Two species of honey bees are present in honey bee plants in Oman are reviewed to real- Oman: the dwarf honey bee (Apis florea Fabri- ize this objective. cius) (Dutton and Simpson 1977; Whitcombe 14 HOSSAM F. ABOU-SHAARA 1984) and the Yemeni honey bee (Apis mellifera (June to August), autumn (September to Novem- jemenitica Ruttner) (Dutton et al. 1981). The lat- ber), and winter (December to February) as ter is cultured using traditional and modern meth- shown in the next paragraphs. The work of Al- ods while the former is generally wild but can be Zidjali (1996), GAAP and ACSAD (2015) and kept temporarily using traditional methods. The Abou-Shaara (2015b) were utilized to prepare two species are found throughout Oman, al- this list of plants, and another references were though the dwarf honey bee is more common in used to identify the potential benefit of these northern Oman (Dutton and Simpson 1977). plants to honey bees as source of nectar, pollen Moreover, the importation of common honey bee or both. races and hybrids is done actively including hybrids of Carniolan honey bees from Egypt. 1. Field Crops In Oman, common honey bees are kept in both traditional (log hives) and modern hives Nectar Plants: Winter: Brassica juncea (Langstroth hives). Dwarf honey bees combs (Fam. Brassicaceae) (Ali et al. 2011). are raised or kept temporarily by some beekeep- Pollen Plants: Summer: Sorghum bicolor ers in northern Oman, by hanging the comb con- (Fam. Poaceae) (Morton 1964; Shawer 1987; Ad- taining brood and adults bees (remaining after jaloo and Yeboah-Gyan 2003; Schmidt and Both- removal of top honey-containing portion) using ma 2005; Ismail et al. 2013; Abou-Shaara 2015a). two sticks in its original position or in nook or Nectar and Pollen Plants:Spring: Linum sp. opening in walls in cultivated/farm area close to (Fam. Linaceae), while during summer/autumn where beekeeper resides. The majority of the Gossipium spp. (Fam. Malvaceae), Helianthus wild honey bee hives in northern Oman are those annuus (Fam. Asteraceae), Medicago sativa of the dwarf honey bee, while in Dhofar they (Fam. Fabaceae), Sesamum indicum (Fam. Ped- have been mostly of the common honey bee. aliaceae) (Morton 1964; McGregor 1976; Hus- There are two major honey flow seasons in sein 2001; Bhuiyan et al. 2002; Alghoson 2004; northern Oman, autumn honey flow from Octo- Ismail et al. 2013; Kamel et al. 2013; Shubharani ber to December and spring honey flow from et al. 2013; Abou-Shaara 2015a). March to May. In coastal mountain areas, a ma- jor honey flow after the end of the monsoon 2. Vegetables extending from late September to late November is present (Sajwani and Farooq 2014). Omani bee Nectar Plants: Spring/summer: Abelmoschus honeys are renowned for their good taste and Esculentus (Fam. Malvaceae) and Vigna sinensis nutritional value and are not rapidly crystallized (Fam. Fabaceae) (McGregor 1976; Mishra et al. (Sajwani et al. 2007). The honey production per 1987). colony per year ranged from 2 to 10 kg with mean Pollen Plants: Spring: Cucumis sp. (Fam. of 5.50 kg (Al-Ghamdi et al. 2016). Cucurbitaceae) (Sivaram, 2001) while during sum- mer/autumn; Asparagus spp. (Fam. Asparagace- Potential Honey Bee Plants in Oman ae) and Corchorus sp. (Fam. Malvaceae) (McGregor 1976). Sajwani et al. (2014) found that the major Nectar and Pollen Plants: Winter/spring: bee plants were Ziziphus spina-christi, Acacia Citrullus spp. (Fam. Cucurbitaceae) and Vicia tortilis, Citrus spp., Zygophyllum spp., Proso- faba (Fam. Fabaceae) (McGregor 1976; Morton pis cineraria, Prosopis juliflora, Maerua cras- 1964; Shawer 1987; Taha and Bayoumi 2009). sifolia, and Fagonia spp in Oman. Popova et al. Not Specified: Summer: Cicer arietinum (2013) studied properties of Omani propolis and (Fam. Fabaceae) but its benefit to bees has not considered Azadirachta indica as the most im- been studied. portant source for propolis followed by some other plants including Acacia spp. (A. nilotica) 3. Fruit Trees and Mangifera indica. The potential bee plants in Oman are listed according to their benefits to Nectar Plants: Spring: Citrus limon (Fam. honey bees as source of nectar/pollen, and flow- Rutaceae( and Prunus persica (Fam. Rosaceae) ering season; spring (March to May), summer (Morton 1964; Alghoson 2004). Summer/autumn: J Agri Sci, 10(1-2): 13-19 0000 (2019) HONEY BEE PLANTS IN OMAN 15 Mangifera sp. (Fam. Anacardiaceae) and Musa aucheri (Fam. Resedaceae), Pteropyrum scopar- acuminate (Fam. Musaceae) (Suryanarayana et ium (Fam. Polygalaceae), Reseda muricata (Fam. al. 1992). Resedaceae), Olea europaea (Fam. Oleaceae), Pollen Plants: Spring/summer: Phoenix dac- Ceratonia Oreothauma (Fam. Fabaceae), Cas- tylifera (Fam. Arecaceae), Prunus armeniaca sia sp. (Fam. Fabaceae), Maerua crassifolia (Fam. Rosaceae) and Vitis spp. (Fam. Vitaceae) (Fam. Brassicaceae), Centaurea pseudosinaica (Morton 1964; McGregor 1976; Alghoson 2004; (Fam. Asteraceae), Achyranthes aspera (Fam. Ismail et al. 2013). Amaranthaceae) (Morton 1964; Sivaram 2001; Nectar and Pollen Plants: Spring/summer: Ismail et al. 2013; Bhalchandra et al. 2014; Sa- Carica sp. (Fam. Caricaceae), Cocos sp. (Fam. jwani et al. 2014; Abou-Shaara 2015a; GAAP and Arecaceae), Citrus spp. (Fam. Rutaceae), Citrus ACSAD 2015). aurantifolia (Fam. Rutaceae), Psidium guajava Summer: Amaranthus spp. (Fam. Amaran- (Fam. Myrtaceae), Malus sp. (Fam. Rosaceae), thaceae), Cynodon dactylon (Fam. Poaceae), Prunus Amygdalus (Fam. Rosaceae) and Pyrus Pennisetum sp. (Fam. Poaceae), Pennisetum ty- spp. (Fam. Rosaceae), (Morton 1964; McGregor phoides (Fam. Poaceae), Pulicaria argyrophyl- 1976; Suryanarayana et al. 1992; Sivaram 2001; la (Fam. Asteraceae), Pulicaria glutinosa (Fam. Adjaloo and Yeboah-Gyan 2003; Alghoson 2004; Asteraceae), Pulicaria undulate (Fam. Aster- Anita et al. 2012; Ismail et al. 2013; Shubharani aceae), (Roubik 1995; Sivaram 2001; Bhuiyan et et al. 2013). al. 2002). Not Specified: Summer and autumn; Annona Autumn: Tamarix aphylla (Fam. Tamaricace- sp. (Fam. Annonaceae), Ficus spp. (Fam. Moraceae), ae), Fagonia bruguieri (Fam. Zygophyllaceae), Punica granatum (Fam. Lythraceae). Datura sp. (Fam. Solanaceae), Cucumis sp. (Fam. Cucurbitaceae) (Sivaram 2001). 4. Medicinal, Aromatic, Ornamental,