Foraging activities of stingless bee Tetragonula pagdeni on rose flower, Rosa damascena Mill.

As demand for stingless bee honey is increasing, meliponikeeping is getting more interest. The availability of nectar and pollen resources has been considered as one of key factor of meliponiculture success. Here we present the foraging behaviour of Tetragonula pagdeni on rose, Rosa  damascena as a potential floral resources. The number of forager bees leaving from and returning to the colonies were recorded from 06:00-17:00 h. Observations of forager activity were recorded from the areas planted. Five x 1 m² quadrates of 3 orchards were sampled and the number of foragers counted for 1 min, at 15 min intervals, from 06:00-17:00 h. Quadrates were randomly selected for each observation interval. T. pagdeni foragers became active around 06:15 h at rose flowers. Flight activity reach peaked between 07:30-09:00 h and continued foraging but at a lower rate. The mean number of foragers was 9 ±8.50 individuals m² quadrate per 15 min observation interval period with a range of 0-21 individuals. However, there was gradually decreased in the number of honeybees in the afternoon, this was significantly different. T. pagdeni forager only active on R. damascena in morning and far fewer forager bees visited flower after 12.00 hr of the day. The use of Rosa  damascene for landscape design for meliponikeeping has suggested and discussed.