Pollen Collection from Alsike Clover by High and Low Alfalfa Pollen Collecting Lines and by a Commercial Line of Honeybees

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Abstract
Summary The collection of alsike clover pollen by high alfalfa pollen collecting (APC) and low alfalfa pollen collecting lines of honeybees and by bees from commercial colonies were compared at Donnelly, Idaho, U.S.A., in an area where alsike clover was flowering. All three lines collected an overwhelmingly high percentage of alsike clover pollen (92–99%), and there were no significant differences between them. A limited amount of rape pollen was collected every day by all groups, and also a small amount of dandelion pollen on one or two days. Only one (high APC) colony collected pollen from a small nearby field of alfalfa, and only one (low APC) colony collected pollen from scattered patches of Senecio spp.