Abdullahi G., Sule H., Chimoya I. A., and Isah, M. D
Surveys were conducted from August 2009 to June 2011 in some selected grazing and forest reserves of Mubi to study the diversity and distribution of honeybees foraging plant species. The survey was conducted through monthly visit to the selected sites located in some reserves in two randomly selected local government areas of Mubi region. One each of grazing and forest reserves was purposefully selected in every selected local government area to serve as study site. Four (4) transects of 1,000m in length were selected and stationed on two separate points on each site at every study visit. The start and end of each transect were marked with flags made from white or red clothes to enhance visibility. Moving on the transects, flowering plants found at about 50m radius were visited and observed for the presence and foraging activities of honeybees within a predetermined period of 10 minutes. Plants were scored as bee foraging species when at least three (3) honeybees had visited and foraged on the flowers within the observation period. The result indicated that 103 species of plants were promising as potential forages for honeybees. Though, the plants were not found to be evenly distributed over the entire surveyed locations, all the sites had some reasonable population of bee foraging species. The implications of these findings to prospective beekeepers are discussed. It was concluded that any of the studied locations can be profitably utilized for beekeeping.
