Performance Evaluation and Honey Production Potential of Adapted Vetch Varieties for Bee Forage Development
The study was conducted to assess the performance, quantify the nectar secretion dynamics, and evaluate the honey production capacity of Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa, and Vicia sativa. The East Shewa and West Arsi zones shown good performance by Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa, and Vicia sativa. Before nectar collection, a group of flowers was enclosed with mesh bags to measure nectar volume of the plants. The measurements of nectar volume, concentration, temperature, and humidity were generally taken at different times of the day. One-way ANOVA and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the collected data. Nectar secretion dynamics of the three Varieties were significantly varied (at p < 0.05) at different times of the day. The nectar volume that became available between the two consecutive measurements (three-h intervals) varied from 0.82 to 1.82 μl/fower, 0.94 to 1.8 μl/fower and 1.04 to 2μl/fower for Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa and Vicia sativa, respectively. The temperature was positively correlated with the nectar concentration for the three varieties. However, the nectar volume of Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa and Vicia sativa was negatively affected by temperature. The nectar concentration three varieties were also negatively affected by humidity. Whereas it is positively correlated with nectar volume for Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa and Vicia sativa. However, the relationships between humidity and nectar volume were almost found at equilibrium for three varieties. Based on the mean amount of nectar sugar secreted by the plants, the mean honey production potentials of the species were estimated to be 101.5kg, 130.5kg and 139.2 kg/ha of Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa and Vicia sativa, respectively. Therefore, the multiplication and management of these three vetch varieties (Vicia atropurpurea, Vicia villosa and Vicia sativa) are recommended for sustainable honey production.
Mekonen Wolditsadik*, Taye Beyene, and Desta Abi