الفهرس 
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Abstract
The present investigation was carried out at the apiary of Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University and apiary of Experimental Station, Shandawyl, Sohag Governorate during the period from 2014 to 2017 seasons. Carniolan hybrid honey bee colonies were used.
The present investigation aimed to identify nectariferous and polleniferous plants in area of study; to classify the main Egyptian honeys and to evaluate the quality of some commercial honeys (Trade-mark Egyptian honeys) To realize the main objectives the experimental works were carried out and the following results were obtained characteristics of main pollen sources Pollen grains of thirty four plant species belonging to twenty-four families were recorded in Assiut area and reference slides were prepared to classify the pollen spectrum in honey samples. These plant species are known as polleniferousand nectariferous sources for honey bee colonies. from present results, shape index of ten pollen grain types were calculated. The shape index ranged from 0.48 to 1.25. four pollen grain forms were recorded per-oblate, oblate, oblate spheroidal and sub-prolate. The measurements of pollen grains showed distinct variations in their structure. Cotton pollen grain had the highest length of polar (31.83 µm) and equatorial (24.59 µm) axis followed by the diminations of Sesame pollen grain while the sunflower pollen ranked at the third one. – Foraging activity of honey bee workers Activities of honey bee foragers (Apis melliferae) on flowering plants for collecting nectar was studied by identifying and counting the pollen grain numbers on honey bee foragers bodies in Assiut and Sohag areas during active season of 2015. The experimental data show that: Thirty three pollen species belonging to twenty-four families were classified on returning honey bee foragers. The classified plant species included 3 species of medicinal plants, 9 species (wooden trees) 3 species (vegetables plants), 9 species (crop and forage plants), 11 species (wild and weed plants).
b- The present data showed that there were three peaks of pollen influx for honey bee foraging through the year in Assiut area during three months April, June and October. In sohag area, also three peaks of pollen influx were coincided with pollen and nectar collection Better activity of honey bee foraging for visiting polleniferous plants was recorded in Assiut area in comparison with the data obtained from Sohag area. d- The present study showed that the highest number of pollen grains on nectar foragers was recorded during flowering period of Egyptian clover (365 pollen grain/10 MF) followed by Alfalfa pollen (133/10 MF) whereas the pollen density of Date Palm, Faba bean and Coriander were recorded as a low density. Classification of extracted Egyptian honeys: Bee honey samples which collected from 15 Egyptian governorates during season of 2016 were classified after using Melissopalynological method. The present results revealed the following informations a- Types of Egyptian honeys:
Forty-four honey samples were classified to thirteen honey types. Clover honey represented 31.81% from the total honey samples. Whereas the Eucalyptus and citrus honeys represented 13.64% for each one. Medicinal honey represented the fourth rank with 11.36%. Cotton honey was recorded with small p The present investigation was carried out at the apiary of Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University and apiary of Experimental Station, Shandawyl, Sohag Governorate during the period from 2014 to 2017 seasons. Carniolan hybrid honey bee colonies were used The present investigation aimed to identify nectariferous and polleniferous plants in area of study; to classify the main Egyptian honeys and to evaluate the quality of some commercial honeys (Trade-mark Egyptian honeys). To realize the main objectives the experimental works were carried out and the following results were obtained characteristics of main pollen sources Pollen grains of thirty four plant species belonging to twenty-four families were recorded in Assiut area and reference slides were prepared to classify the pollen spectrum in honey samples. These plant species are known as polleniferousand nectariferous sources for honey bee colonies. from present results, shape index of ten pollen grain types were calculated. The shape index ranged from 0.48 to 1.25. four pollen grain forms were recorded per-oblate, oblate, oblate spheroidal and sub-prolate. The measurements of pollen grains showed distinct variations in their structure. Cotton pollen grain had the highest length of polar (31.83 µm) and equatorial (24.59 µm) axis followed by the diminations of Sesame pollen grain while the sunflower pollen ranked at the third one. – Foraging activity of honey bee workers Activities of honey bee foragers (Apis melliferae) on flowering plants for collecting nectar was studied by identifying and counting the pollen grain numbers on honey bee foragers bodies in Assiut and Sohag areas during active season of 2015. The experimental data show that: Thirty three pollen species belonging to twenty-four families were classified on returning honey bee foragers. The classified plant species included 3 species of medicinal plants, 9 species (wooden trees) 3 species (vegetables plants), 9 species (crop and forage plants), 11 species (wild and weed plants). b- The present data showed that there were three peaks of pollen influx for honey bee foraging through the year in Assiut area during three months April, June and October. In sohag area, also three peaks of pollen influx were coincided with pollen and nectar collection. Better activity of honey bee foraging for visiting polleniferous plants was recorded in Assiut area in comparison with the data obtained from Sohag area.
d- The present study showed that the highest number of pollen grains on nectar foragers was recorded during flowering period of Egyptian clover (365 pollen grain/10 MF) followed by Alfalfa pollen (133/10 MF) whereas the pollen density of Date Palm, Faba bean and Coriander were recorded as a low density 3- Classification of extracted Egyptian honeys: Bee honey samples which collected from 15 Egyptian governorates during season of 2016 were classified after using Melissopalynological method. The present results revealed the following informations:
a- Types of Egyptian honeys:
Forty-four honey samples were classified to thirteen honey types. Clover honey represented 31.81% from the total honey samples. Whereas the Eucalyptus and citrus honeys represented 13.64% for each one. Medicinal honey represented the fourth rank with 11.36%. Cotton honey was recorded with small percentage (2.3%). b- Pollen spectrum of Egyptian honeys: from the results of pollen spectrum of main Egyptian honeys, data showed that: - Medicinal honey In Egyptian medicinal honey, five pollen species were classified. Coriander pollen scared the highest percentage (70.68%) followed by Alfalfa pollen (9.73%), Eucalyptus (8.30%) and Faba bean (8.19%). from the present results, it could be stated that Egyptian medicinal honey was rich with Umbelliferous pollen, specially from Coriander plants. - Citrus honey: After pollen analysis of Egyptian citrus honey, eight pollen grain types were classified. The highest percentage was recorded with citrus pollen (48.09%) followed by Faba bean (19.33%), Alfalfa (10.18%) and Eucalyptus (9.71%). - Eucalyptus honey: Pollen spectrum data of Egyptian Eucalyptus honey showed that it contained ten pollen types, three of them were recorded as a major sources of nectar and pollen and seven types as a minor sources. The dominant percentage (70.05%) was of Eucalyptus pollen followed with clover pollen percentage (13.62%) and (7.01%) from Coriander pollen. - Clover honey:
Egyptian clover honey was ranked as the first honey produced in Egypt. The percentage of clover pollen content of fourteen honey samples ranged from 57 to 99%. A general mean percentage of clover pollen represented 79.43% followed with Eucalyptus pollen (6.62%) and Alfalfa pollen (4.05%). The other nine pollen types were recorded in low percentages Polyfloral honey types: The present results showed that only three samples from 44 were recorded as polyfloral honeys. After pollen spectrum and flowering period of plants, these honey samples were divided in to three types, spring, summer and late summer polyfloral honey types. 4- Evaluation of commercial honey quality: Sixteen commercial honey samples which collected from supermarkets during season of 2017 were examined by using mellissopalynology technique. The present results indicated that: A total of 27 pollen species belonging to 18 families were identified in tested honey samples. The predominant pollen sources were Clover, Alfalfa, Date palm, Faba bean, Coriander, Eucalyptus, Sunflower and Citrus, while the other pollen species were present in honey samples as secondary pollen sources. Most of pollen types identified in honey samples were from necteriferous and polleniferous plants.
d- Pollen diversity was higher in summer honey samples in comparison with spring honey samples. e- The present results showed that all sixteen samples of trademark honey had natural sources and all were unadulterated honeys The present data reflect that the Egyptian floral situation of the place were a particular combination of pollen types of that particular area. In Egypt, additional studies on bee honeys should be conducted and existing International Honey Commission Criteria for Egyptian honeys authenticity.