Forage turnip is Embrapa's strategy to provide food for bees

Purple and white flowers from the forage turnip culture that adorn the experimental field of Embrapa Meio Ambiente, in Jaguariúna-SP, announce that winter crops, used as soil cover in the dry season, can also carry the noble strategy of providing food balanced for bees. Africanized bees (Apis mellifera) travel from flower to flower in perfect harmony with the native bees (without sting) Jataí, Iraí, Arapuá, Mandaçaia and Uruçu-Amarela in the frantic task of collecting pollen. Forage turnip, a species of the Cruciferous family, is scientifically known as Raphanus sativus. Versatile and resistant, it is a crop widely used for green manure in the autumn-winter period, in the rotation and or succession of crops such as cotton, soybeans and corn, due to its high capacity for recycling nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus. Vigorous, the plant covers the soil quickly and works very well in controlling weeds. As explained by Embrapa researcher, Cristiano Menezes, the choice of forage ...