Evaluation of selected medicinal and aromatic plants for use as bee pasture under the ecological conditions of Bingöl

OpenAlex İngilizce

Objective: Use of some cultivated medicinal and aromatic plants as bee pasture to examine their potential. Materials and methods: The study was conducted using lavender (Lavandula officinalis), basil (Ocimum basilicum), thyme (Satureja hortensis) plants and honeybee colonies in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 growing seasons. Results: In both years of the study, lavender was the first plant to be visited by bees. According to the two-year averages, basil was open to bee visits for 58 days, thyme for 38 days and lavender for 30 days. The average number of honeybee visits was 63.9 in lavender, 55.75 in thyme, and 12.2 in basil. Bees spent the most time in lavender flowers and the least time in thyme flowers. In terms of years and plants, all characteristics of thyme were statistically significant except the number of plants per square meter in 2021 and the number of flowers per stem in lavender in 2022. Conclusion: It was concluded that these plants can be used directly or indirectly as bee pasture in Bingöl province and similar ecological conditions. Since this study is one of the first to explore this subject, alternative plants, conditions, and methods need to be further investigated.