IMPACT OF HONEY BEES (Apis mellifera L.) ON POLLINATION AND YIELD OF CULTIVATED PLUM VARIETIES

Throughout evolution useful interactions between plants and honey bees have developed which are still very important today. Basically, flowering plants provide nectar and pollen to bees, which in return perform cross-pollination of plants. In the process of cross-pollination, herbal species that are cultivated for human consumption, cattle feed or for other purposes are of particular significance. There are hundreds of such plant species. Farmers and beekeepers want bees to pollinate agricultural crops as efficiently as possible. Bee colonies were formed particularly for this purpose since most crops are pollinated early in the season when there aren’t many worker bees in the hive. Many fruit species are of great importance to bees for the development of their colonies in the early spring (hazel, almond, buckthorn, cherry, plum) as well as for preparation of the main pasture. In our situation, over 85% of the pollination of fruit trees is done by bees, and only 14-15% by other pollinators. During this two-year research project at two locations in the vicinity of Bijelo Polje, a comparison of pollination efficiency with and without bees was conducted in plum crops, among different varieties of plums. Pollination efficiency with the same agro-technology was drastically increased in the presence of bees, which resulted in a much greater yield.