Determining the attractiveness of Asteraceae rangeland plants used by Honey bee in the pastures of Hyderabad Shabestar village

Abstract

Introduction: The pastures on the outskirts of Hyderabad are among the lowland pastures of Shabestar city that play an important role in providing the pollen and nectar needed by bees during the summer.
Materials & Methods: This research was carried out in the pastures on the outskirts of Hyderabad village, located 30 km from Shabestar city, located in East Azarbaijan province. In order to study the flowering period of 21 species of Asteraceae genus that grow in these rangelands, at an altitude of 1500 m with a distance of 50 m from the sea level, 10 bases of each of the studied species were marked every five days from 2017 to 2019. Statistical calculations in this study were performed by SPSS software.
Result: The results showed that in terms of vegetation Onopordon acanthium, Sonchus oleraceus, Echinops robustus, Picnomon acarna, Lactuca serriola had the fastest time to start growing on April 14 and Cirsium vulgare had the latest time to start growing on April 30 in the study area. Also Anthemis psedocotula, Onopordon acanthium, Sonchus oleraceus, Echinops robustus, Picnomon acarna, Achillea wilhelmsii have the fastest flowering time up to first May.
Conclusion: Among the studied plants Achillea wilhelmsii, Anthemis hyalina have the fastest time to reach the peak of flowering (early June) and also the plants Taraxacum syriacum, Cirsium vulgare, Gundelia tourtnefortii, Cirsium congestum have flowering period in summer, especially in August and September.