Approach to design sequence of field melliferous crops taking into account use of agricultural machinery

Abstract

An approach for mutually beneficial solving the issues of providing melliferous plants for honey bees and optimizing the necessary equipment and its use is presented. The plants must be included in appropriate crop rotations and pollinated by bees. To ensure strong bee colonies, field crops, varieties and hybrids with high potential nectar yields, overlapping flowering periods, with different vegetation durations and different sowing dates are offered. At the same time, appropriate land management projects take into account climatic and meteorological conditions, too. Possible solutions are illustrated with graphs of expected nectar productivity, need for machinery, staff, fuel in a production year. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is reported in two directions: on the one hand, the benefit for farmers growing agricultural crops is shown in terms of reducing the need for machinery, increasing the employment of service personnel for socially, economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture. On the other hand, the benefit for beekeepers corresponding area is expressed in providing pollen and nectar for bees throughout the honey harvest period, good stocking of bee colonies with honey, reduction of harmful effects of overpopulation with bee colonies, lower feeding costs, for transport and maintenance, high yields of bee products. The approach is suitable for application in flat-hilly areas with predominantly arable agricultural lands and, at the same time, with insignificant areas covered by forest and meadow flowering vegetation.