Performance Evaluation of Herbaceous Bee Forages in Lowland of East Hararghe Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

The availability of adequate sources of nectar and pollen is the most limiting factor for the honey production and survival of honeybees. To improve the current shortage of bee forage and increase honey production, selecting the best-performing bee forage species across the study areas is of paramount importance. Thus, the study was conducted to evaluate the performance of five herbaceous bee forage species in the lowland agroecology of the East Hararghe zone of Oromia.. The planting materials were Fagopyrum esculentum, Sinapis alba, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Guizotia abyssinica, and Carthamus tinctorius (safflower). The species were planted under rainfed condition and evaluated based on germination date, days to set flower, number of flowers per plant, duration of flowering and foraging intensity of honeybees. All evaluated bee forage species had a short germination date of 6 to 7 days except for Phacelia tanacetifolia which took 11 days to germinate. Regarding days to set flowers, Fagopyrum esculentum had the shortest time to set flowers followed by Sinapis alba, Phacelia tanacetifolia, and Guizotia abyssinica, while Carthamus tinctorius had a longer time to set flowers. Sinapis alba had the highest number of flowers per head followed by Fagopyrum esculentum, Guizotia abyssinica, Carthamus tinctorius and Phacelia tanacetifolia. Phacelia tanacetifolia was highly visited by honeybees followed by Fagopyrum esculentum, Guizotia abyssinica, and Sinapis alba while less number of honeybees was visited on Carthamus tinctorius, Fagopyrum esculentum which took a long time to shed flowers followed by Synapsis alba, Carthamus tinctorius, Phacelia tanacetifolia, and Guizotia abyssinica. Hence, bee forages including Sinapis alba, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Fagopyrum esculentum, and Guizotia abyssinica were recommended for honeybees in the lowland and the similar agro-ecology of the East Hararghe zone. Further study on the inter-cropping system of these forages with other crops, and evaluating their performance under irrigation systems are necessary. Furthermore demonstration and scaling up the selected bee forages for the end users are also recommended.