Preliminary communication
The Impact of Honey Bee Pollination on the Amount of Essential Oils
2022, 87 (3) p. 259-263
Abstract
The objective of this research was to study the impact of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) pollination as an agricultural method for increasing the essential oil quantity. The quantity of essential oil in pollinated and unpollinated Melissa officinalis L., Mentha piperita L., Origanum heracleoticum L., Salvia officinalis L. and Thymus serpyllum L. plants was studied and significant differences were observed. Blossoms and stems from twenty pollinated and twenty unpollinated plants were used during mass blooming in a modified Clevenger apparatus for two-hour distillation under 100 °C. The statistical analysis proved that there was a larger quantity of essential oil in plants pollinated by honey bees than in unpollinated plants. The increase of essential oil from M. officinalis was 42.32%; from M. piperita was 24.96%; from O. heracleoticum was 18.91%; from S. officinalis was 23.90% and from T. serpyllum was 35.52%. The most visited plants per m2 , during their blooming belonged to T. serpyllum and the least visited plants during their blooming belonged to M. officinalis. According to pollination intensity S. officinalis and M. officinalis flowers were the least visited, while M. piperita flowers were the most visited.
Keywords
agriculture and agroecology, honey bees, essential oil, pollination, aromatic plant
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