Flora of apicultural interest in apiaries of the east of Silípica departament, Santiago del Estero

CÉSPEDES FERNANDO NICOLÁS; CARRIZO ELIZABETH DEL VALLE; SCHEFER SEBASTIAN ; GRIMALDI PABLO ANDRES

Mendoza

Congreso; XXXVI Reunión de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2018

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Towards the east of the Silipica Department, it is common the numerous paleo-capes that the Dulce River leaves in its journey, printing differential characteristics to the predominant landscape and vegetation. Beekeeping is an activity carried out by people from the east of the department and is intimately related and conditioned by the plants available in the area, which is why beekeepers have a deep knowledge of the local flora of interest for the foraging of bees. The objective of the present work was to inventory this melitophylous flora around the apiaries installed in dry environments of the east of the Silipic Department. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with the apicultural producers of the area, consulting about the species visited by the bees in their apiaries, the type of contribution (nectar, pollen) and the time of flowering. Their presence of plants was confirmed and material was collected for herborization and determination. Seventy one species were cited, of which 90% are native, distributed in bushes-subshrubs (40.8%), trees (28.2%) herbaceous (22.5%) and Vines-Creepers (8.5%), of which 83% correspond to perennial species and 16% per year. With regard to botanical families, 24 were registered, the most representative being Asteraceae (17%), Fabaceae (17%), and Cactaceae (16%). The most mentioned species were Atamisquea emarginata Miers ex Hook. & Arn, Prosopis alba Griseb, Schinopsis lorentzii (Griseb.) Engl, Geoffroea decorticans (Hook. & Arn.) Burkart and Sarcomphalus mistol (Griseb) Hauenschild. In relation to the contributions 48% of the mentioned plants provide nectar and pollen, 20% pollen and 8% nectar. The flowering time evidenced two pulses in the offer, the first, the largest, from June to December with a peak in October, and the second from January to March with peak in February. The native and woody species of the dry lands of the department constitute a valuable resource of interest for beekeeping.