Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. Bees are accommodated in artificial lives where they live comfortably within easy reach of the bee keeper for examination and extraction of surplus lovely, after keeping of sufficient lovely in the combs for the bees. Honey is a part of bees, which gather sugar containing nectars from flowers. Honey should be processed as soon as possible after removal from the hive. Honey processing is a sticky operation, in which time and patience are required to achieve the best results. Careful protection against contamination by ants and flying insects is needed at all stages of processing. Bee honey is natural, unrefined food consumed as much in fresh or canned state. It is readily assimilated and is more acceptable to the stomach, particularly in the case of ailing persons, than cane sugar. It is an antiseptic and is applied to wounds and burns with beneficial results. Honey collection and its marketing in India are still not fully organised. The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, as a spread on breads and as an addition to various beverages such as tea and as a sweetener in commercial beverages. Honey is the main ingredient in the alcoholic beverages mead, which is also known as honey wine or honey bear, honey is also used in medicines. A number of small scale industries depend upon bees and bee products. Honey and bees products finds use in several industries which are under; pharmaceuticals, meat packing, bees wax in industries, bee venom, royal jelly, bee nurseries, bee equipments and hives etc. There is considerable demand for the honey and other products. Outside the thousands of homemade recipes in each cultural tradition, honey is largely used on a small scale as well as at an industrial level.
Some of the fundamentals of the book are history of beekeeping in India present, all India co ordinate research project on honey bee research and training, future plan for development, the pattern of beekeeping today, development of beekeeping equipments, beekeeping industry and honeybee species, bee hive products, medicinal properties of honey, bees and agriculture, pesticidal poisoning to honeybees, handling bees, queen rearing and artificial queen, beekeeping and ancillary industries, honey based industries, honey in pharmaceuticals, honey in meat packing, beeswax in industries, bee stings precautions and treatment.
The book contains the steps of bee keeping in proper manner and details of honey processing. This book is an invaluable resource for new entrepreneurs, technocrats and also for established enterprises.
1. HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING IN INDIA PRESENT
STATUS AND FUTURE
HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING IN INDIA
Beekeeping Extension
Khadi and Village Industries Commission
State Khadi and Village Industries Board
Directly Aided Organisation
All India Beekeepers’ Association (AIBKA)
BEEKEEPING RESEARCH
Department of Agriculture and Colleges
Apicultural Research Laboratory, Mahableshwar (M.S.)
Central Bee Research and Training Institute (KVIC)
All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Honey Bee Research and Training
Punjab Agricultural University
Other Apicultural Departments
TRAINING IN BEEKEEPING
MARKETING OF BEE-PRODUCTS
PRESENT STATUS
Extension
Research
Training
Marketing
CONSTRAINTS
FUTURE PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT
The Changing Scenario Under KVIC
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
NATIONAL BEE BOARD
Action Plan
Extension
Research
Training and Education
Marketing
2. WORLD SCENARIO IN BEEKEEPING
THE PATTERN OF BEEKEEPING TODAY
RACE OF HONEYBEES
Dark bees, A. mellifera mellifera L.
Italian bees, A. mellifera Ligustica Spin
Carniolans. A. mellifera carnica (Pollmann)
Caucasian, A. mellifera caucasica Gorb
HONEY PRODUCTION
BEEKEEPING IN EUROPE
GRADING, PACKING AND MARKETING OF HONEY
INJURY TO HONEYBEES BY POISONING
3. BEEKEEPING IN INDIA—ROLE OF KVIC
KVIC
GROWTH OF BEEKEEPING UNDER KVIC
Organisational Set Up of Beekeeping Under KVIC
Growth of Beekeeping in Different States/Areas
DIRECTORATE OF BEEKEEPING
ORGANISATIONAL SET UP UNDER CBRTI, PUNE
Apiculture
Development of Beekeeping Equipments:
Role of RBRCs/FOS
Introduction of Exotic Bees
Entomology
Bee Pathology
Bee Botany and Melletopalyonology
Bee Pollination
Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding
Rock Bee
Bee Chemistry
Training
Bee Library
4. BEEKEEPING RESEARCH SET-UP,
ACHIEVEMENTS AND FUTURE STRATEGIES
RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS AND FUTURE
STRATEGIES
Beekeeping Industry and Honeybee Species
BEE FLORA
EQUIPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
GENETICS AND BREEDING
DISEASES & ENEMIES
POLLINATION OF CROPS
HONEYBEE PRODUCTS
PESTICIDAL POISONING
5. MAJOR CONSTRAINTS IN BEEKEEPING
BEEKEEPING WITH APIS CERENA INDICA AND
APIS MELLIFERA
THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN INDIA
ARE AS FOLLOWS
Using the Correct Species for Beekeeping
Availability of Genetically Superior Queens
for Increased Honey Production
Lack of Technical Knowledge for Efficient
Management of Colonies for High Honey Yields
Lack of Infrastructure at the Grass Roots and National Level for Beekeeping
Poor Quality Control for the Production of Honey
Emphasis on Production of Honey Instead of other Bee Products
Bees Wax
Pollen
Propolis
Bee Venom
Royal Jelly
Disease Prevention, Control and Analysis
Lack of Sufficient Financial Help from Government
and Lending Institutions for the Development of
Beekeeping
No Tax or Other Monetary Benefits for Beekeeping
No Control on the Use of Pesticides by Farmers
Leading to Death of Bee Colonies in Field Locations
Pricing Structures for Honey
Lack of Finances for Packers or Beekeepers to be
Able to Store Honey
Beekeeping Being not Recognized as a Priority Agricultural Activity and Getting Governmental
Support
There is No Promotion of Mass Planting of
Bee Flora
Apiculture not Being Recognized as a
Specific Field
Lack of Consumer Awareness of Honey
and its Products
Beekeeping not Being Considered as
an Employment Generation Activity
CONCLUSION
6. BEES AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
WILD BEES
SPECIES OF HONEYBEES
7. MORPHOLOGY, ANATOMY, COLONY ORGANIZATION AND LIFE CYCLE
MORPHOLOGY
ANATOMY
COLONY ORGANIZATION
DEVELOPMENT
POINTS OF CASTE DISTINCTION
8. BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENTS
LANGSTROTH TEN-FRAME HIVE
NEWTON HIVE
OTHER BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENTS
EQUIPMENTS FOR HANDLING BEES
9. SEASONAL ACTIVITIES AND SOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR OF HONEY BEES
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF HONEYBEES
SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES IN THE LIFE OF BEES
DIVISION OF LABOUR
COMMUNICATION AND MEMORY OF HONEYBEES
Dance Language
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION
PHEROMONES
WORKER PRODUCED ODOURS
QUEEN - PRODUCED ODOURS
Inhibition of Queen Rearing and Swarming
Prevention of Worker Ovary Development
Attraction of Drones for Mating
Attraction of Swarms and their Stabilization
Stimulation of Nasonov Pheromone Release
and Worker Foraging
QUEEN ATTRACTIVENESS AND RECOGNITION
Other Pheromones
CONTROL OF REPRODUCTION IN HONEYBEE
COLONIES
Foraging Activities
Nectar
Pollen
Water
Propolis
Maintenance of Nest/Hive Temperature
FORAGING RANGE
WORKING HABITS OF FIELD BEES
SPEED OF FLIGHT
COLONY DEFENCE ACTIVITIES
10. FOOD OF THE HONEYBEES, BEE FLORA
AND HONEY FLOW PERIODS
FOOD OF THE HONEYBEES
BEE FLORA
NATURAL AND ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS
PROPAGATION OF BEE PLANTS
11. SEASONAL MANAGEMENT OF HONEYBEE COLONIES
WINTER MANAGEMENT
Adequate Population of Young Bees
Stores of Food in a Colony
Protection from the Humidity and Cold
(a) Reduced Entrance and Adequate Ventilation
(b) Winter Packing
SPRING MANAGEMENT
SWARMING
CATCHING THE SWARM
PREVENTION OF SWARMING
MANAGEMENT DURING HONEY FLOW
HONEY EXTRACTION
SUMMER MANAGEMENT
MONSOON MANAGEMENT
POST-MONSOON MANAGEMENT
CONTROL OVER DESERTION OF BEE COLONIES
12. MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING
TRANSPORTATION OF BEE HIVES
13. DISEASES OF BEES AND THEIR ENEMIES
VIRAL DISEASES
Thai Sac Brood Virus
Apis Iridescent Virus
Kashmir Bee Virus
Bee Viruses not Found in India
BACTERIAL DISEASES
American Foul Brood
European Foul Brood
PROTOZOAN DISEASE
Nosema Apis
FUNGAL DISEASES
MITES
Acarapis Woodi
Varroa Jacobsoni
Tropilaelaps Clareae
INSECT ENEMIES OF BEES
Wax Moths
Greater Wax Moth
Lesser Wax Moth
Predatory Wasps
Black Ants
BIRDS AND OTHER ENEMIES
14. BEE HIVE PRODUCTS
TYPES OF HONEY
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF HONEY
HYGROSCOPICITY
VISCOSITY
SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND REFRACTIVE INDEX
AROMA AND COLOUR
HONEY, AN ENERGY FOOD
Nutritive Value of Honey
Honey - A Tonic
Consumption of Honey
Anti-bacterial Effects
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF HONEY
Honey as Medicine
HONEY IN INFANT FEEDING
HONEY AND DIABETES
Diabetes
Composition of Honey
HONEY IN HOME PREPARATIONS
Honey Spread
Honey Water
Comb Honey
Honey in Cooking and Baking
Honey in the Kitchen Angel Biscuits
Honey Butter
Apple-Oats-Musli
Orange-Apple-Musli
Carrot Salad with Honey
Comb Lemon Squash
Honey Mango Squash
Honey Jam
Honey Candy
Honey and Egg
Honey Ice-cream
Honey Chocolate
Honey Chikki
Honey Jelly
Honey Soap
OTHER USES OF HONEY
GRANULATION
MOISTURE CONTENT AND FERMENTATION
Honey Processing
CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF THE HONEY PROCESSING UNIT
WORKING OF THE UNIT
TIPS TO USE HONEY
TESTING OF HONEY FOR PURITY
Pollen
COMPOSITION
USES
BEES WAX
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
USES
EXTRACTION OF WAX
Extraction Over Boiling Water
Chemical Bleaching
By Wax Presses
15. BEES AND AGRICULTURE
CROSS-POLLINATION OR OUTCROSSING
BIOTIC POLLINATION
EFFICIENCY OF POLLINATING BEES
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
PLACEMENT OF HIVES IN ORCHARDS
LOCATION OF THE HIVES
ROLE OF BEES IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
AND ENVIRONMENT
BREEDING BEES FOR POLLINATION OF SPECIFIC CROPS
POLLINATION REQUIREMENTS OF CROPS
EFFECT OF INSECT POLLINATION ON
ENVIRONMENT
MANAGEMENT DURING POLLINATION
16. NON-APIS BEE POLLINATORS
NESTING HABITS
BEE NESTING MATERIALS
TRAP-NESTING SOLITARY BEES IN THE
HUMID AND WET TROPICS
Material Preparation
Placement of Artificial Domiciles for Bee Culture
Bees Commonly Using Trap Nests
Nest Parasites and Pests
Recommendations for Future Work
FORAGING CYCLE IN RELATION TO
SEASONALITY OF THE HOST PLANTS
Role of Non-Apis Bee Pollinators in Seed/Fruit
Production
PRESENT STATUS OF MANAGEMENT OF
NON-APIS BEE POLLINATORS
Conclusions and Future Strategies for Management
and Conservation of Wild Bee Pollinators
17. PESTICIDAL POISONING TO HONEYBEES
HOW ARE BEES EXPOSED TO
PESTICIDAL HAZARDS
SYMPTOMS AND EFFECTS OF PESTICIDAL
POISONING
PESTICIDES AND THEIR RELATIVE
TOXICITY TO BEES
PESTICIDES MOST TOXIC TO BEES
PESTICIDES VERY TOXIC TO BEES
PESTICIDES LESS TOXIC TO BEES
PESTICIDES LEAST TOXIC TO BEES
REDUCE PESTICIDAL POISONING TO BEES
CARE OF THE POISONED COLONIES
PLANT POISONING TO BEES
18. BEE PASTURAGE
NECTAR-SUGAR CONCENTRATION
NECTAR COMPOSITION
FACTORS AFFECTING NECTAR SECRETION
BEE FLORA OF INDIA
Avenue, Amenity and Timber Tree
Fruits
Cultivated and Wild Bushes, Shrubs and Field Crops
Vegetables
Ornamentals
19. QUEEN REARING AND ARTIFICIAL QUEEN
BEE INSEMINATION
SELECTION OF MOTHER STOCK
BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF QUEEN REARING
METHODS OF QUEEN REARING
ARTIFICIAL MATING
INSTINCT OF REPRODUCTION AND RELATED
MANAGEMENT
CONTROL OF REPRODUCTION
QUEEN AND ITS MANAGEMENT
LAYING WORKERS
REPRODUCTION OF SPECIES — SWARMING,
PREVENTION AND CONTROL
MAKING COLONY INCREASE
20. BEEKEEPING AND ANCILLARY INDUSTRIES
BEEKEEPING AND ANCILLARY INDUSTRIES
Honey Based Industries
Honey in Pharmaceuticals
Honey in Meat Packing
Beeswax in Industries
Bee Venom
Royal Jelly
Bee Nurseries
Bee Equipments and Hives
21. HANDLING BEES
INTRODUCTION
BEHAVIOUR OF BEES
WHEN TO MANIPULATE BEES
HOW LONG TO KEEP A HIVE OPEN
DRESS AND PERSONAL HYGIENE
MANIPULATION TECHNIQUES
MANIPULATING DIFFICULT COLONIES
BEE STINGS PRECAUTIONS AND TREATMENT
PRECAUTIONS
IMMEDIATE CARE
BEE VENOM AND ITS MEDICINAL VALUE
STINGING BEES IN WAR FARE
22. MARKETING OF BEE PRODUCTS
23. HONEYBEES - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INDICATORS
24. HONEY ANALYSIS
DESCRIPTION
METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING
MISCELLANEOUS
METHODS OF ANALYSIS
Qualitative Fieche’s Test
PROCEDURE
Specific Gravity
PROCEDURE
Water Moisture Content (%)
Total Reducing Sugars
PROCEDURE
Non Reducing Sugars (sucrose)
PROCEDURE
25. PROMOTION OF BEEKEEPING IN KERALA
26. PROMOTION OF BEEKEEPING IN PUNJAB
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF BEEKEEPING
DEVELOPMENT IN PUNJAB
SUPERIORITY OF A. MELLIFERA OVER
INDIGENOUS HONEYBEE
CLIMATIC SUITABILITY
MAJOR BEE FLORA AND THEIR VALUES
TRAINING IN BEE MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN PUNJAB
SPREAD OF A. MELLIFERA IN OTHER STATES
SUBSIDIARY INDUSTRIES AND RURAL ECONOMY
FUTURE PROJECTIONS
MARKETING OF HONEY
OBJECTIVES OF PUNJAB STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
CASE HISTORY OF IMPORTANT BEEKEEPERS
27. BEEKEEPING IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
BEEKEEPING WITH A. MELLIFERA
MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING
DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF A. MELLIFERA
PROBLEMS FACED BY BEEKEEPERS OF
HIMACHAL PRADESH
HONEY : MEDICINE FOR HEALTH, FRESHNESS & BEAUTY
28. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE STRATEGIES
29. BEE FORAGE IN INDIA
30. PLANT & MACHINERY PHOTOGARPHS
31. ADDRESSES OF PLANT & MACHINERY SUPPLIERS
^ Top
History of
Beekeeping in India Present Status and Future
After independence India
launched a massive
programme of rapid industrilization with the belief that the benefits
would
percolate down to the masses. Contrarily only elites got benefited and
rural people
continued to be poor resulting into movement of the unemployed to the
cities.
As 80
percent of
the population lives in rural India and depend on agriculture it
received more
emphasis in the second phase of development. Consequently huge
investments were
made in agricultural research and extension and India became self
sufficient in
food production ranking World s fourth largest grain producer. Special
efforts
were also made to develop various agro base industries like dairy
poultry fish farming
sericulture and beekeeping. Out of them beekeeping
industry received
inadequate attention resulting in its stagnation. Following paragraphs
trace
history and present status of beekeeping in India followed by
suggestions to
rectify the current state of affairs and give this industry a status it
rightfully deserves.
History of Beekeeping in India
Although
honey
and honey bees are known to human beings since time immemorial still beekeeping is not a
Strictly
traditional industry in India. Efforts were made to introduce Apis
mellifera the
European honeybees in
India since 1880. For various reasons these experiments did not meet
with
success. It was around 1910 that Rev. Father Newton designed a smaller
hive suitable for
the Indian honeybee Apix cerana
indica in Kanyakumari and successfully maintained it in hives. Mahatma
Gandhi
realised the importance of beekeeping industry and included it in his
rural
development programme. Several freedom fighters were trained in his
Ashram at
Wardha in the art of maintaining honeybee colonies. These Freedom
fighters from
all over the country initiated beekeeping industry in their respective
States.
Swami Shambhavananda from Coorg District in Karnataka
Y.M.C.A.
Martandom and Dr. Spencer Hatch from Southern most coastal
strip of
India Shri S.K.
Kallapur and Shri S.G.
Shende from Western Peninsula Shri
R.N.
Muttoo from Central Himalayas Smt.
Rama
Devi and Manmohan Chaudhary from orissa
Shri Rajdan from Jammu and Kashmir did pioneering work in
the
establishment of modern beekeeping in India. All these efforts however
were restricted to small pockets only. After independence Government of India took a
policy decision to
revive various traditional industries and an All India Khadi and
Village
Industries Board was constituted to undertake this work. The task of
development of beekeeping industry was also entrusted to this Board.
This Board
was later reconstituted as Khadi and Village Industries Commission a
statutory
body of Ministry of Industries. It was only after the establishment of
KVIC at
Central level and Khadi and Village Industries Boards at State level
that
beekeeping industry received serious attention for its development in a
coordinated manner throughout the country through well knit
organisations like
Village Industries Boards
Beekeepers Co
operative
Societies registered
public Institutions
etc. In addition to this a few states like Jammu and Kashmir Himachal Pradesh.
Karantaka and Uttar Pradesh
developed Departments of Beekeeping that functioned under Ministry of
Agriculture or Industries.
Beekeeping Extension
The (KVIC)
an
Autonomous Statutory Body was established by an Act of Parliament in
1956 to
plan organize and
implement the
programmes for the development of Khadi and Village Industries. Since
beekeeping industry was included in the schedule of KVIC the Commission established
Beekeeping
Directorate with adequate staff at its Headquarters in Bombay and
network of
technical and extension staff in all states reaching through Districts
to
potential villages. The organisation of Beekeeping extension programme
was as
under
Khadi and Village Industries Commission
The KVIC
had a
Technical Staff of about 200 workers. The Beekeeping Directorate had
evolved
about ten different patterns of assistance for providing financial
assistance
to Beekeepers Co
operatives Institutions
and individuals. Some of the
patterns of assistance are (i) Establishment of beekeeping sub stations
(ii)
Model apiary cum nursery (iii)
Migration
of bee colonies (iv)
Construction of
honey house (v) Purchase of beekeeping equipment (vi) Training in
beekeeping etc.
Every year developmental
plan for each state was finalised and financial as also technical
assistance
was provided by the KVIC to State Boards
Institutions or
Co operatives for
implementing the approved programme.
State Khadi and Village Industries Board
What is
Khadi
and V.I. Commission to Govt. of India is Khadi and V.I. Board to State
Government. The state Khadi and V.I. Boards receive financial and
technical
assistance from Khadi & V.I. Commission for implementing
development
programme. Each State Board has its own beekeeping extension staff for
implementing and supervising the programme. The State Khadi and V.I.
Boards
implement the developmental programme directly or through Co operatives
and
registered Institutions. At one time there were 600 Bee fieldmen
working on
contract basis on 600 Beekeeping substations all over the country.
Directly Aided Organisation
The
registered
institutions or the Co operative Societies established prior to the
establishment of the State Boards were taken on the list of directly aided institutions by the KVIC. Kerala
Sarvodaya Sangh Punjab
Khadi Gramodyog Sangh Bihar
Khadi Gramodyog Sangh are some of the
very big organisations.
All India Beekeepers Association
(AIBKA)
All India
Beekeepers Association
was established
in Nainital in 1937. Shri R.N. Mutto Founder of the Association devoted
his
life for the development of beekeeping industry in Uttar Pradesh. In
the
initial years the
Association organised
All India Beekeeping Conferences which
popularised modern beekeeping and brought awareness about pure honey
extraction
using centrifugal machine. The Association
as a directly aided institution of KVIC took up beekeeping
development
programmes in Uttar Pradesh. This Association has been publishing for
the last
50 years a Journal entitled Indian
Bee
Journal . Besides publication of journal other major activities of the
Association are standardization of beekeeping equipment
supply of beekeeping books
charts and other audio visual
aids/literature.
Beekeeping Research
Bee
research in
India like
beekeeping industry has a
very recent history. Its growth and development can be traced back to a
little
over four decades as follows
Department of Agriculture and Colleges
Prior to
independence most
of the earlier
research on honeybees was confined to the entomology departments. The
emphasis
of this research work was naturally on the academic aspects of Indian
honeybees
and provided very valuable basic data.
Apicultural Research Laboratory
Mahableshwar (M.S.)
The Bombay
Village Industries Committee initiated beekeeping development programme
in
Mahableshwar way back in 1948 under the leadership of Shri S.G. Shende
(now
Chairman All India
Beekeepers Association).
During this extension programme
Shri S.G. Shende associated Prof. G.B. Deodikar with bee research
programme
realizing importance of source to sink. A comprehensive programme of
bee
research was conceived which included research on standardisation of
beekeeping
equipment standardisation
of bee
management practices studies
on bee
botany bee genetics bee pathology
chemistry and quality control of bee products etc. The
Apicultural
Research Laboratory was thus established in Mahableshwar in 1952
formally
inaugurated by Shri Morarji Desai
the
then Chief Minister of Bombay State.
It was
unique in
the sense that it devoted to field oriented research and simultaneous
attention
was paid to different disciplines of bee science like botany management genetics and
breeding pathology
and quality control of bee products
etc.
Central Bee Research and Training Institute (KVIC)
The
Apicultural
Research Laboratory Mahableshwar
undertook various research projects of applied nature and published
series of
articles thus attracted the attention of KVIC
which recognised this Laboratory as All India Training
Centre for
beekeeping and also provided financial assistance for the research
programmes.
The work of Laboratory however was confined to limited area of
Mahableshwar
plateau and surrounding valleys in Western Ghats. A need was then felt
to
expand the scope of bee research activities to entire country. KVIC
with the
help of Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board
established
Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) in Pune on 1st
November
1962.
The CBRTI
in
turn established Regional Bee Research Laboratories. Field observation
Stations
and experimental apiaries all over the country. It undertook field
oriented
research programmes under its Departments of Botany
Melissopalynology Bee
management Bee
breeding
Bee pollination Bee
pathology and
Bee Chemistry. The work done on different aspects was regularly
published in
national and international journals. More than 100 scientific papers
were
published by the CBRTI. It also prepared 10 to 15 drafts for secrutiny
and
adoption by Bureau of Indian Standards. Gradually
CBRTI received national recognition by
organizations like Bureau of Indian Standards and AGMARK. The
University of
Poona accepted it as a Centre for postgraduate studies on bees and
beekeeping.
Similarly International Bee Research Association
London and the Canadian International
Development Agency also
sent their
recognitions. Members of the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA)
visited
CBRTI and had series of meetings with the Scientists. The NCA in its
final
report to the Government of India (1976) wrote one Chapter on
Apiculture and
made many recommendations for the development of beekeeping in India.
One of
the major recommendations was that CBRTI should be developed as a
primary
national centre for honey and honeybee research & training. It
was further
recommended that the institute be treated at par with other Central
Institutes
of the ICAR and the necessary funds and facilities should be placed at
the
disposal of the institute.
The
Department
of Science and Technology at the request of KVIC provided funds for
construction of building at Pune.
All India Co ordinated Research Project on Honey Bee Research
and Training
The Ministry of Agriculture
accepted the report of
the NCA and passed it on to Indian Council of Agricultural Research for
implementation. In light of the recommendations of NCA and the needs of
a vast
country like ours with climatic
floristic and phenological heterogeneity
a much larger and co ordinated programme was an obvious
necessity. At
CBRTI in July 1981 broad areas of research
and training were
identified for implementation at eight different co operating Centres
under All
India Co ordinated Research Project on Honeybee Research and Training
with main
co ordinating centre located at CBRTI
Pune. The Headquarter of the Main Co ordinating Centre
remained at Pune
for a couple of years. Subsequently it was shifted to Haryana
Agricultural
University Hissar. Other Co operating Centres were located at Ludhiana
(Punjab)
Vijayrai (AP) Jorhat (Assam) Pusa
(Bihar) Vallyani (Kerala) Pantnagar (UP) Solan (HP) Bhubaneswar
(Orissa).
Similarly one centre each at Indian Agricultural research Institute
(New Delhi)
and the Chithali station of Indian Institute of Hoticultural Research
(Karnataka) was established.
World Scenario in
Beekeeping
Beekeeping
is
practised over a greater area of the earth s surface than perhaps any
other
single branch of agriculture and on it depends the success of many
other
branches of agriculture. Honeybee originally belongs to the old world
Europe.
Africa and Asia and the bees spread to the new world after 1638 in
America 1822 in
Australia and 1842 to Newzealand. The
real boost to scientific beekeeping took place with the discovery of
moveable
frame hive by Langstroth 1851. Later
sequence of events took place by studying the biology of
honeybees development
of beekeeping methods identification
of different castes queen
mating
role of bees in pollination etc. Although the beekeeping
has since
undergone tremendous change both in equipment and management but the
basic
principles have remained the same
as
advocated by Langstroth and Dadant and still form the basis of modern
beekeeping. During the next half century i.e. between 1850 to 1900 beekeeping exploded in the
New World.
Today most
of
the countries practise beekeeping with the European honeybee Apis
mellifera
which surpasses the Asian honeybee Apis cerana in almost all the
departments.
This species has an unusually large distribution
which encompasses widely different
environments. A. mellifera is one of the most successful species in the
animal
kingdom which has become independent from environmental conditions to a
great
extent one and the
same species is able
to survive in semidesert tropical regions as well as in cold temperate
zones.
Even countries like China and Japan
which for a long time were practising beekeeping with Apis
cerana are
replacing the species with A. mellifera.
The Pattern of Beekeeping Today
We have now
seen
that honeybees live in all the parts of the world
except polar regions. However
the pattern of beekeeping in old and new
worlds tends to be different. In general
the new worlds tend to give richer honey harvest but the old world is
densely populated with
honeybees as it is
with people. The new
world provides more useful inventions for handling bees and their
products whereas
the old world still contributes more
fundamental discoveries about bees. Broad distinction with exception is
between
the equipments used for beekeeping. Beekeeping equipment used in the
new world
tends to be simple uniform
and mechanism
perhaps due to expensive labour. Mainly Langstroth and Dadant hives are
used.
In European countries one man can look after 100 to 300 colonies. In
Australia
the figures are still higher the
most
mechanised beekeepers among all are in California where beekeeping
started
around 1850 and a beekeeper can run 1000 or even 2000 hives each.
In new
world beekeeping is
generally a means of livelihood
and average honey yield in most of the countries ranges from 10 to 20
kg/colony
and the average yield in best beekeeping district ranges from 100 kg to
150 kg
or even 200 kg. Contrary to this in the old world the beekeeping is a
hobby and
sideline beekeepers are much higher
each
owning 5 10 or upto
50 hives and getting
a harvest of 5kg to 20 kg/hive.
In
good areas beekeeping is being
adopted even without knowing great deal about the bees themselves and
beekeepers
are neither much interested in bees nor in beekeepers organisations.
Contrary
to this in European
countries like
Australia Czechoslovakia Germany
Netherlands and Switzerland
where
there is much awareness with
strongest
beekeepers organisations
per hive honey
production is low mainly
because of greatest density of hives. All these countries have more
than 10
colonies per square mile and their honey yields are amongst the lowest
in
Europe.
Race of Honeybees
The most
predominant species of hive honeybees in the world is Apis mellifera whose races can be divided
into three
1.
European races 2.
Oriental races and. 3. African races.
One can
determine some relationship between dark European bee and the North
African
Tell bee and between Caucasians Anatolian
and Carniolan bees. However from
point
of view of economic value there
are four
races of Apis mellifera and they are
Dark
bees
A. mellifera mellifera L.
They are
spread
throughout Europe north
and west of Alps
and Central Russia. But in the last decade they lost ground almost
everywhere
and presently are confines to Spain
France Poland
and Russia. These
are big bees with short tongue broad
abdomen dark chitin
with small yellow
spots nervous in
temperament good
wintering weak
disposition in swarming and
susceptible to diseases.
Italian
bees
A. mellifera Ligustica Spin
Its
original
homeland is Italy (exclusive of Sicily) and is somewhat smaller than A.
mellifera mellifera with slender abdomen. The bee is of light colour
with
scutellum hair have
yellowish colour.
These are very clam bees generally
gentle build
exceptionally strong
colonies with high consumption of food. The good building instinct of
this race
has been praised many times.
Carniolans.
A mellifera carnica (Pollmann)
With
original
homeland Austrian Alps this
bee is
generally quite similar to ligustica. Slender with long tongue its chitin is
overwhelmingly dark with brown
spots. Hair is grey. It is the quitest and the most gentle race.
Diseases of
brood are virtually unknown.
Caucasian
A. mellifera caucasica Gorb
Original
homeland is Central Caucasus. In shape and size it resembles carnica.
Colour is
dark with brown spots on abdomen. Hairs are grey brown. It is also
gentle and
calm. It raises strong colonies. Produces only weak swarms cold hardy.
Besides
these
important races. Apis mellifera adansoni has also been much talked
about these
days. This north African bee is a very small
dark in colour highly
aggressive
in behaviour high
tendency to swarm and
migrating over long distances but excellent for honey production in
extreme
climate of Africa.
In addition
to
these races of Apis mellifera we
have
the Asiatic hive bee Apis cerana which closely resembles Apis mellifera
in its
body structure. It is relatively cold hardy. It is genetically
separated from
A. mellifera and attempted intermating produces lethal offspring. It
does not
produce a strong colony and is
therefore kept
in smaller hive.
It is resistant to nosema disease. It produces relatively less honey
and has
great swarming and absconding instinct.
There are
two
other species of genus Apis in southern Asia
which are entirely tropical. Both build only a single comb
and nest in
the open. Neither of them can be kept in a hive although honey can be
obtained
from nests of wild bees. These two species are
a dorsata and A. florea.
Honey Production
The total
honey
production in the world is 1.1 million tones according to 1990 FAO
estimates out of
which 66 per cent is
produced by 10 major honey producing countries of the world. In the
foregoing
account only the major honey producing countries have been briefly
described.
Beekeeping in Europe
About a
decade
ago Europe (excluding USSR) had about 13 million colonies with an average 7
colonies/square mile a
hive density seven times as great as in any
other continents. The average honey yield was l0kg/colony/year. It was
low as
compared to the new world as a whole. Europe consumes more honey than
it
produces and Western Europe is the world s greatest honey importing
region. In
1972 Europe
imported 70 000 tons from
New World of which 46 000 tons was imported by West Germany. The honey
production in Europe was 2 00 000 tones.
According
to the
figures available for 1989 for European Economic Community (EEC) the average yield per
colony was minimum at
Luxemburg (7.7 kg/colony) and maximum at Denmark (35 kg/colony) (Table 1). Spain had
maximum number of bee colonies
(1.6 million) and Luxemburg the least (10 400). West Germany still
Remains the
world s biggest importer of honey which produced about 18 00 M. tons of
honey
in 1988 and imported 83 000 M. tons during the same period.
According to the 1984 estimate the erstwhile USSR had 10
million
colonies which had
been built after
World War II the
earlier stock was mostly
destroyed during the war. Its honey production was more than one lac
tons
(average yield 11 kg/colony). The entire produce is consumed in the
country.
Its beekeeping is on the pattern of Europe and even the equipment is
similar to
that used in Europe. Most of the beekeeping farms are run by the State each of which maintains as
many as 6000
colonies. Since most of the activities are centrally governed there is virtually no
conflict between
beekeepers and plant protectionists and all beekeeping and crop
spraying activities
are systematically organised. The value of bees in fruit and seed
production is
very well realised and growers and beekeepers work in harmony. Efforts
are a
foot to become surplus in honey and wax production. The USSR had
traditionally
exported small amount of honey primarily to Eastern Europe. One of the
constraints to Soviet export was lack of high quality packaging material which forced the USSR to
sell honey wholesale
as opposed to the more profitable retail market.
Asia
Till
recently
Beekeeping in many Asian countries was a traditional
household activity.
It is only recently that its importance has been commercially realised
in
countries like China India
and
Pakistan as a
result of the introduction
of high honey yielding species of Apis mellifera. In other countries of
this
continent there are
small beekeepers who
keep one to five colonies of Apis cerana in different traditional hives
and
produce honey by squeezing
method . The
total honey production in Asia is only to the tune of about 2 50 000 M.
tons.
China
There are
at present 8.5 million colonies in
China out of which 7 million are kept in modern hives. Out of these 70
per cent
are Apis mellifera and others are Apis cerana. The annual honey
production is
about 2 00 000 metric tons per year and total Royal Jelly and bee
pollen
production is 1 800 and 1 000 tons per year
respectively. In addition
bees
wax and propolis are two other important hive products that are
harvested.
About 30 to 40 per cent of hive products are exported and rest are
retained for
domestic consumption. About 90 per cent of honey and all the Royal
Jelly is
produced from Apis mellifera. Royal Jelly is sold at a rate of
US$100/kg. The
Institute of Apiculture Sciences of the Chinese Academy is mainly
responsible for
beekeeping research and extension activities. There are more than 1 00
000
apiaries in China each having 30 to 80 hives. Beekeeping with Apis
cerana is
practised in mountain areas. Each A. mellifera colony produces from 0.3
to 0.5
kg of Royal jelly per year. Beekeeping got a boost in China between
1949 to
1959 after the introduction of European honey bee.
At present China is the world
s largest producer and
exporter of honey. Honey production in China is mainly a sideline
activity
engaged in by crop farmers to enhance income but others specialise in
honey
production. These producers move from region to region depending upon
season
and local flowering conditions. They sell honey to total supply and
sale
cooperatives which
act as middlemen and
re sell honey to retailers food
and
beverage processors producers
of Chinese
medicine or in case of honey destined for export market to the Native products
Import/Export Corporation
(TUHSU) .
India
As per
1986 statistics (FAO) there are about 1
million bee colonies of A. cerana and A. mellifera in India and annual
honey
production is about 18 000 M tons. About half or more of this quantity
is
harvested from wild colonies of A. dorsata and A. cerana. Beekeeping
covers 4
00 000 villages providing part time employment to 2 50 000 persons.
India has
the potential of accommodating 5 million colonies and a potential of
producing
6 00 000 M tones of honey. Himachal Pradesh is the only area in
Southern
Asia which has
announced support price
for honey.
Pakistan
Our
neighbour
Pakistan produces
about 640 M
tones of honey of which 14 to 18 per cent comes from A. mellifera and
A. cerana
kept in modern hives and the remaining from wild colonies of A. dorsata
and A.
cerana.
Nepal
Its
beekeeping is mainly with A. cerana and
average yield is 5 to 6 kg although
some
beekeepers obtain as high as 25 kg/colony. It has mainly traditional
beekeeping. Other species such as A. dorsatal A. Laboriosa and A.
florea are
erratic honey yielders.
Bangladesh
Beekeeping
is with A. cerana A.
dorsata and A. florea. A cerana yields
around 4 to 10 kg honey per colony. There are about 10 000 A. cerana
colonies
kept in different types of hives by about 8 000 beekeepers.
Japan In
1990 Japan produced
4 300 M tons of
honey fulfilled only 77 per cent of the total annual consumption for a
year.
Japan is the second largest importer of honey in the world. In 1990
Japan
imported 69 435 M tons of honey China
being the dominant supplier accounting for 86 per cent of the honey for
industrial use and only 35 per cent for table purpose.
In other
countries of Asia like Bhutan and Burma
beekeeping is virtually non existent and attempts are
being made to
boost beekeeping with A. mellifera
however it
will take sometime.
Beekeeping in
India
Role of KVIC
Success of an Industry is
measured by its
achievement and the role of Khadi & Village Industries
Commission (KVIC) in
the upliftment of Beekeeping Industry is spectacularly well established.
Beekeeping
is an
ideal agro based subsidiary industry
providing supplementary income to a target group of people
from
rural hilly and
tribal tracts including
horticulturists and agriculturists because of abundantly widely
and well distributed
bee flora.
Apart from the direct benefits of honey and bee wax
the indirect benefits through pollination
etc. are almost impossible to quantify which may simply outclass the
direct
benefits.
KVIC
The KVIC is
a
statutory body created by an Act of Parliament (No. 61 of 1956 and as
amended
by Act No. 12 of 1987). It is charged with the planning
promotion
organisation and
implementation
of programme for the development of Khadi and other Village Industries
in the
rural areas in Co ordination with other agencies engaged in rural
development wherever
necessary. The
Village Industry means any industry located in rural areas with a
population
not exceeding 10 000 which produces any goods or renders any service
with or
without the use of power with the fixed capital investment not
exceeding Rs. 15
000/ per artisan or
worker.
Thus the beekeeping fitted
perfectly in the
perview of KVIC as it being the only such organisation with a will to
work and
network in such areas.
Growth of Beekeeping under KVIC
Until 1953 the beekeeping in Indian
subcentinent was in
a badly disorganised shape until this activity was taken over by All
India
Khadi & Village Industries Board and subsequently by the KVIC
in 1957.
The KVIC is
responsible for taking Beekeeping Industry to the present height from a
mere 16
557 colonies to 13.44 Lakhs colonies and the honey production
consequently
increasing from 0.21 Lakhs Kg. to 82.02 Lakhs Kg respectively.
The liberal
financing by the KVIC coupled with the technical support in the form of
technical manpower training literature
supply of equipments
followed by
the marketing umbrella support to the beekeepers has led to the present
scale
development of Beekeeping Industry.
Thus making
beekeeping in India and KVIC Synonymous.
Organisational set up of Beekeeping under KVIC
The
organisational set up is the key to effective planning and
implementation of
beekeeping programmes.
Table
1
Growth of Beekeeping in different States/Areas
Being
entirely
an agro based industry bee
keeping is
feasible only in areas with adequate bee flora
atleast for a period of 6 to 8 months
with one major honey flow season. Initially beekeeping
activity was
concentrated in some southern states only. The KVIC is instrumental in
spreading it to entire India except the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan
where
it is practiced at low key.
Table
2
The
southern
states of Karnataka Tamilnadu
and Kerala
contributed almost 40% of the total honey production till a fatal
disease Thai Sac
Brood Virus (TSBV)
damaged the whole of Beekeeping
activity in these States. Now the leading states are U.P. Bihar
Bengal Punjab
and Haryana.
In addition
to
directly aided institutions beekeeping
programme is implemented mainly through institutions
cooperatives
and individuals financed by State Khadi & V.I.
Board which
receives funds from KVIC.
Role of Central Bee Research & Training Institute
(CBRTI) Pune in
research and technology development
While
implementing the bee keeping extension programme
the immense potential of bees to reap
unlimited floral wealth of India was realised which resulted in the
initiation
of a KVIC sponsored comprehensive research programme
relavant to Indian conditions
at Apicultural institute in Mahabaleshwar
(Maharashtra) in 1952.
Organisational set up under CBRTI
Pune
This set up
is
unique in the sense that all the related aspects of the beekeeping
research are
undertaken under one roof. In case of Indian Council of Agricultural
Research
(ICAR) universities colleges
institutions etc. the
emphasis on
research is mainly devoted to Entomological and pollination aspects
whereas it
is integrated on all aspects at CBRTI.
The
achievement
of CBRTI in different divisions/departments are summarised here.
Apiculture
Development
of Beekeeping
Equipments
It is an
important task and CBRTI has designed lots of equipments
Bee
hives ISI (A type B
type and C type)
Bee hives stand (folding type and
fixed type)
Honey
extractor Tangential and
radial type
Comb
foundation sheets
Comb
foundation mill
Travelling
bee box
Wasp
trap
Lay
out of honey house
Lay
out of honey processing plant
Solar
wax extractor.
The above
mentioned equipments have already been standardised by Bureau of Indian
Standards (formerly ISI). The following approved drafts awaiting
standardisation are
Cylinderical
bee packages
Honey
extractor tangential
Beeman
s kit.
Role
of RBRCs/FOS
The RBRC s
and
FOS s with apiaries in different agroclimatic conditions were
established as
per the recommendations of National Commission on Agriculture (1979) to
perfect
management techniques in different climatic conditions of India. The
beauty of
the idea is that after every 5 years they move to virgin areas. This
has led to
phenomenal recourse in managing different bee apiaries in different
agroclimatic zones of India.
Some of these techniques include
Management
of apiaries year round
Supplementary
feeding in dearth period
Swarm
control
Management
for higher yields
Apis
mellifera management
Migration
both local and distant.
Introduction
of exotic bees
The exotic
bee Apis mellifera
was initially
introduced in Punjab Jammu
& Kashmir
on the individual level as well as by Agricultural University Ludhiana. After its
successful introduction
Apis mellifera bees was popular and it was taken up in Punjab on
commercial
basis. The KVIC after due experiments in the States of Bihar U.P.
M.P. and Punjab approved introduction of A. mellifera in
nothern States
and approved the pattern of assistance of Apis mellifera under its
scheme of
beekeeping for the southern northern States. The experiment is in
progress for
introduction of A. mellifera in southern states.
Entomology
Achievements
include identification extent
of damage
and management of pests parasites
and
predators of bees including green bee eater
wax moth mites
etc. The control
of the mites was achieved employing advanced indigenously prepared
strips impregnated
with insecticides. The most important work includes isolation purification and
identification of mandiculat
gland pheromone of different bee species different insecticides with
low LC 50
to bees were taken.
Bee
Pathology
The section
made
detailed studies on the isolation
fungal identification etiology and management of
different
bacterial and viral diseases including EFB
TSBV etc.
The hill variety of
bees A.c. indica was found to be relatively tolerant to the TSBV which has played havoc on
beekeeping
industry.
Bee
Botany and Melletopalyonology
This department has collected
and classified more
than 3000 plants species useful as bee plants. More than 300 spices and
plants
have been given to forest/ agricultural department. The polynarium with
more
than 4000 slides of pollen types of India is unique which serves as a
reference
task to the scientists from India and abroad. Analysis of pollen loads pollen stores and honey
samples to identify
its sources is another Analysis of pollen loads
pollen stores and honey samples to identify its sources is
another
facility created.
Beekeeping
Research Set UP ACHIEVEMENTS and Future Strategies
Honeybees
and
honey find special mention in the Indian epics and bee hunting for
honey dates
back to some 2000 to 2500 years. The innovation of movable frame hive
in the
west in 1950 s ushered an era of revolution in the field of Research in
Beekeeping. Some attempts were also made in India by the end of 19th
century to
keep bees in moveable frame hives but nothing much was done till the
recommendations of Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1928. During 1930
s and
1940 s some beekeeping stations were established in different parts of
the
country and some research was initiated at places like Coimbatore Pusa
Lyalpur and Nagrota (H.P.).
After
independence Village
Industries Boards
at state levels to promote cottage industries including beekeeping were established. For co
ordination between
the state boards the
national Government
established All India Khadi and Village Industries Board in 1953 which later became
autonomous Khadi and
Village Industries Commission in 1956.
One
organisation
set up after independence was Bombay village Industries Committee which
was
later re organised as the Village Industries Board for earstwhile
Bombay state
and under its aegies appreciable beekeeping extension work was done in
Mahableshwar hills. A Bee
Research
Centre was started
at Mahableshwar in
1952 which was upgraded as Apiculture Research Laboratory in 1954. Work
done in
this laboratory especially
in survey of
bee flora palynology cyto genetics and honey
analysis etc.
provided good base for KVIC to establish a Central Bee Research
& Training
Institute at Pune in 1962. The CBRTI has been implementing research
programmes
through regional Bee Research centres and field observation stations.
Some good
popular articles and bulletins were published and research findings
emanated
till early 1900 s when the Institute suffered set back in terms of
technical
resource personnels.
Beekeeping
as a
matter of stark fact should have been a part of agriculture but to
greater
dismay the field remained neglected by the agricultural Universities
and Indian
Council of Agricultural Research. It is only recently that the
beekeeping has
come to be realised as an input of agriculture. Entomologists working
in some
Universities/Institutes in erstwhile Punjab Agril. University and later
state
Universities of Punjab Himachal
Pradesh
and Haryana have done some pioneering work in some respects. All these
efforts
had been fragmented approaches for resolution of research problems in
apiculture. In 1980 a need was felt by the ICAR for multilocational
Research
and All India co ordinated Project on Honeybee Research and Training
(AICRP)
was perceived enroping
six
Institutes/Organisations where co ordinated Project on Honeybee
Research and
Training (AICRP) was perceived enroping
six Institutes/Organisations where co ordinating centres were located.
Later on
the umbrella of the AICRP was broadened by adding more centres. The
project now
operates with co ordinating centres in important beekeeping states of
the
country. But these co ordinating centers are not provided with
specialist
scientists in each field of honeybee research and even now the research
efforts
are little less than systematic. Besides the co ordinating centres of
AICRP there are
only few state
Universities like H.P. University
Simla H.P.
Krishi Vishva
Vidyalaya Palampur Haryana Agril. University Hisar
University of Agricultural Sciences
Bangalore which have provided some set up for honeybee
research.
Research Achievements and Future Strategies
Beekeeping Industry and Honeybee Species
Growth and
development of beekeeping industry in India has not been satisfactory.
Honeybees in India are estimated to be availing about one fourth of the
floral
resources available in the country. Thus there is enough scope for
expansion of
beekeeping in potential areas. The average honey production with Apis
cerana
indica is 5 10 kg per colony per year in most areas and this production
can go
upto 25 kg in some very good areas.
Three
species of
true honeybees viz. A.c. indica A.
dorsata and A. florea are indiginous to India and the fourth A. mellifera (the exotic
species) is now
established in the country and serving the commercial beekeeping in
many
states. There is also likelihood of encountering the other three
recently
described species of the genus Apis. A. dorsata and A. florea are wild
and
honey hunters squeeze honey in forested areas. Some efforts have been
made to
semi domesticate and manage its bee colonies. These bees offer some
scope for
management on commercial lines.
Many
unsuccessful attempts were made by various workers to introduce and
establish
A. mellifera in India since 1920 s. These attempts met with failures possibly because of lack
of basic knowledge
of apicultural concepts and management skills. Successful introduction
of A.
mellifera in India dates back to 1962 66 and the credit goes to the
foresight of
Dr. A.S. Atwal. Two three
and twenty
eight queens of the English strain (developed by hybridising indigenous
bees in
U.K with Dutch and Itallian bees)
the
Italian strain and californian strain were imported from U.K. Italy and California (USA) respectively and one two and fifteen queens of
the respective
strains could be successfully introduced in A. cerana indica young
worker bees.
The combs of A.C. indica where gradually replaced by A. mellifera cell
size
foundations and thus the colonies of the species were raised. Lateron
20 nuclei
(two lots of 10 each) were obtained from California in 1964 and 1965.
During
1966 24 nuclei each
of Starline (mid
west hybrid mixture
of yellow and
Caucasian blood) and Midnite strain (Caucasian hybrid) were imported
from
Florida (USA). Initially the colonies of the exotic species were
maintained at
Nagrota Himachal
Pradesh (then a part of
Punjab) and comparative performance of Indian bee and five
strains/hybrids of
the exotic species were studied. This was also the first successful
example of
inter specific queen introduction. The species has brought major
revolution in
honey production in some states of India Dearth periods in subtropical
regions
are relatively short and the bees that evolved there are poor honey
gatherers.
On the contrary bees
of temperate region
store large quantity of honey to survive during extended dearth periods.
Therefore temperate zone honeybees
are better suited
for commercial honey production for India. Average honey production
with A.
mellifera is 20 30 kg/year/ colony but through migration beekeepers are getting the
high averages of
60 70 kg. Although the
beekeeping with
introduced A. mellifera is flourishing in some states
the species should be quickly tested for its
performance to spread to other potential regions with greater research
and
extension support.
Bee Flora
Information
on
different aspects of bee forage is essential for the efficient
management of
honeybee colonies. Management scheme for each apicultural region is
closely
correlated with the flowering of local honey and pollen producing
plants as
also the climatic conditions. Basic research in the area of forage
ecology has
been done and floral calendars for different regions have been
prepared. On the
basis of surveys potential beekeeping areas have been identified.
The most
serious
problem for Indian beekeeping has been the decline in flora due to
deforestation and clearing of wastelands for extensive agriculture.
Improvement
of bee flora is not possible by individuals
efforts and a beekeeper has to adopt and adjust only to
the cropping
patterns of the area and forest wild flora available in the locality.
Recently
central and state Governments and local organisations have helped in
expansion
of planted areas of bee forage along highways
wastelands etc.
To get good
results plantation
of selective trees
and shrubs is essential and this should be done on the basis of
multiple use
principle including bee forage as one of the uses. Flowers of many
plant
species are visited by bees for nectar and or pollen but relative
importance
depends on the quality and quantity of rewards available and also on
the
density of the plant species. Intensive research in this area has
generated
this type of information on many of the important flora. The knowledge
accumulated can be made use of while planning plantations on the basis
of
accessibility of the potential bee forage areas and migration schedules
can be
worked out. Migratory beekeeping is practised by many commercial
beekeepers in
states like Himachal Pradesh Bihar
and
south India but micro regional survey of bee forage would be required
for
planning short and long distance migration schedules.
Equipment and Management
Efficient
management requires the use of appropriate equipment and operations
concerning
the well being of bees. Many types of hives had been in use in India
and
attention of the scientists was attracted to standardise the hives and
with
these efforts the ISI (BIS) hive specifications laid down on the basis
of body
size (bee space). Increase in brood and super chamber capacities has
been
suggested keeping in view the colony build up capacity and length of
build up
and honey flow reasons. BIS have also formulated standards for other
bee
equipments.
Knowledge
of
biometry of bees is helpful in standardising bee equipment for breeding work and for gathering
information on the races of
a species. Good information on body size
tongue length and other morphometric characters is
available for A.c.
indica. Egg laying capacity of queens and consequently colony build up
capacity
varies from south to north of the country. Therefore
exhaustive studies are required for all the
regions to develop
suitable queen
excluders comb
foundation mills bee
escape
honey extractors pollen
traps
etc. For A. mellifera only standard Langstroth hive is being used
everywhere in
India whereso ever the species is present. In these and other areas
need might
arise to make suitable amends in sizes and number of frames etc. to
suit
different zones. Timber is becoming expensive and cost of hives is
increasing.
To keep the investment in beekeeping low some alternative materials
like
polurethene polystyrene
and compressed
sheets etc. shall have to be tried.
Many other
practices for better management of honeybee colonies have been worked
out and
standardized. Mass queen rearing for colony multiplication is a very
useful
practice. The queens (30 40) reared in one queenless or queen right
colony can
be given to new divides just before the emergence. This saves the
wastage of
many days for queen rearing by each divide. Time and length of divides
in
regions have also been worked out. Oversummering is a problem in many
parts of
our country because bees are troubled by high temperature and it is
also no
flora period. Methods have been recommended for successful summer
management which
also includes feeding
of pollen supplements and
substitutes to
make colonies to continue rearing some brood.
India
presents a
variety of ecological conditions from north to south and east to west.
To some
extent the art of beekeeping can be uniformly adopted but some
management
problems specific
to different
regions are needed
to be tackled on
priority. Similarly summer
and rainy
season dearth periods need immediate attention. Other problems that
should
attract the attention of bee scientists are strength of divides for
colony
multiplication etc. Little work has been done on the problem of
swarming and
absconding in A. cerana indica. In addition work on behavioural aspects
of Apis
spp. is needed to evolve the management calendar for bee apiaries.
Limited
information is available in India on communication behaviour foraging distance and
nectar and pollen
carrying capacity. Exhaustive information on these aspects is needed to
standardise management practices for different ecological regions for
efficient
management of hive bees.
Genetics and Breeding
Information
on
genetics and reproductive biology is required for planned bee breeding
and
stock improvement programmes. It was hypothesised by Dr. Deodikar and
co
workers that during the course of its trans Himalayan migration the primitive tetraploid
Indian honey bee
might have gradually differentiated into an advanced tetraploid Apis
mellifera.
All along these migratory routes Apis
mellifera differentiated further into a number of African European and Sino Japanes
races. Cytogenetic
studies of Apis spp. have shown that A. cerana indica has the same
number of
chromosomes as the European bee. The male has 16 chromosomes which occur in 8
homomorphic pairs showing
pronounced somatic association it
was
inferred that the males though numerically haploid
may be closely approaching diploid condition
genetically. The females show a close approximation to a tetraploid
condition.
This inference has been corroborated by chromosomes in A. Florea and A.
dorsata
which have 16 chromosomes in female and 8 in the male. Reproductive
biology is
also worked out in Indian honeybee. The queens of the species can be
inseminated with instrument but difficulties like production of low
quality
semen its
separation from mucous and
lesser concentration and activity of spermatozoa are encountered.
Experiments
on hybridization between two hive species have not proved successful.
Intensive
research in needed in reproductive biology and genetics of Indian
honeybee and
breeding of Apis spp. The present day A. mellifera stock has descended
from
varied and heterogeneous blood
therefore we
have to talk about
inbreeding depression with caution and verifying the facts. We will
have to be
over cautious in importing more A. mellifera bees since it will run the
risk of
introducing diseases and enemies. Artifical queen bee insemination
techniques
has been standardised/ practised in our country
therefore safest alternative would be to import semen and
use for
hybridisation as and when the need arises.
Major Constraints
in Beekeeping
BEEKEEPING WITH APIS CERENA INDICA AND APIS MELLIFERA
The KVIC
since
1952 promotes A.c indica the
Asian honey
bee. The number of colonies of this bee in India is about 0.96 million yielding 6300 metric
tonnes of honey with an
average yield of 6.7 kg per hive.
Various
Agricultural Universities of (Punjab
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) for the last three decades
promoted Apis
mellifera the
Italian honeybee. The
colony number of which is about 0.1 million with a total honey
production of 13
700 tonnes with an
average yield of 13.7
kg per hive.
Compare
this
data to that of China which took up commercial beekeeping with A.
mellifera
around 30 years ago and now has 6 million bee colonies yielding 180 000
metric
tonnes of honey and is the worlds largest exporter.
Obviously there is something wrong
with the
impetus direction
and assistance given
to beekeeping in India. This paper
therefore attempts
to define the
constraints in this regard and suggest suitable measures for overcoming
them.
THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN
INDIA ARE AS
FOLLOWS
Using
the Correct Species for
Beekeeping
All
over the world the
Italian honeybee is acclaimed to be the
choice for commercial beekeeping. However
the controversy regarding the suitability of the species
i.e. Asian
honeybee A.c.
indica and the European
bee A. mellifera for beekeeping in India
which has been going on for the last three decades gave a severe set back.
Thank God this has
now been resolved and the two species have been accepted to be
complementary to
each other. Even then if we are to put India on the world honey map we
must
decide to use A. mellifera for commercial beekeeping all over India.
Availability
of Genetically
Superior Queens for Increased Honey Production
America has
developed hybrids of high yielding queens of A. mellifera Australia has a programme
in New South Wales
for developing superior queens of this species
U.K. has the Buckfast bee developed by brother Adams. In
India research
programme needs to be oriented in this direction so that desired
results may be
obtained and we may increase the yield per colony to the desired level.
Queen
breeding
is a long and
tedious developmental
process. During our last 17 years experience of breeding A. mellifera at our own
apiary we have
managed to do line selection of
queens giving upto 80 kg of honey per hive
but because of the unavailability of queen insemination
equipment we have
not been able to standardize the
genetic stock. Even though our queens are raised by grafting yet they mate in the air
and drone population
cannot be controlled entirely in the vicinity of the mating yards.
It is
imperative
that queen breeding by grafting and artificial insemination be taken up
intensively to improve the genetic stock and develop line breeding and
hybridization of both the species.
It is
essential
to give grants to private breeders and governmental breeding institutes
to
enable them to set up the requisite infrastructure for the production
of large
volumes of genetically superior queens for supply to the beekeepers.
Lack
of Technical Knowledge
for Efficient Management of Colonies for High Honey Yields
This is a
major
constraint. Beekeepers are not aware of international methods of
efficient
management. Some of the wrong practices followed by beekeepers are
Few
beekeepers use queen
excluders Further
the excluders that are
locally available get rusted and damage the bees.
We
have heard of outdated
concepts like queen gates being recommended for bee colonies to prevent
bees
from absconding.
Efficient
swarm control is not
practiced by beekeepers and they are most unaware of these techniques.
Most
beekeepers just divide colonies to prevent swarming.
Although
maximum yields from A.
mellifera are obtained when the colonies go upto 3 to 4 chambers with
populations of 50 000 to 70 000 bees yet few colonies with beekeepers
are
raised to that level.
Beekeepers
do not know the
concept of the food chamber as a measure of colony build up and mostly
maintain
colonies on a single chamber leading to weak colonies that die in
dearth
periods.
Few
beekeepers change queens
every season before the honey flow leading to loss of queens during the
crucial
honey flow.
Some
beekeepers even do not use
full comb foundation sheets and only use strips of wax sheets for the
frames
which leads to excessive drone comb construction besides wasting the
time and
effort of bees in making extra comb. Therefore
there is a great scope for improvement.
4.
Lack of Infrastructure at
the Grass Roots and National Level for Beekeeping
This
is the major cause for the
use of wrong management practices by beekeepers and needs to be
urgently
attended to for the success of beekeeping in India.
Our
agricultural universities do
not have departments of Apiculture but only departments of Entomology
where
bees are just one of the insects in the department. Beekeeping has to
be given
the same status as poultry and dairying in our institutes and then only
can we
turn out beekeeping specialists from the universities who specialize in
bee
management breeding disease control quality control and so on.
At the moment the
universities only turn out entomologists who have knowledge of
beekeeping and
who in any case are too few to be able to have any impact in the field.
There
is no concept of beekeeping
inspectors or
trainers in beekeeping at
the village or even district level.
Beekeeping by its nature
has seasonal crises of disease
management and so on. It is not sufficient to have a few
people in
universities for advise on beekeeping. The only way that China managed
to take
up beekeeping so fast and so successfully was the availability of
trained field
workers in beekeeping at the village level. We must therefore have a
hierarchy
of beekeeping experts and trainers in the villages
blocks
Tehsils Districts
and then
finally in the universities to be able to have effective feed back to
and from
the beekeepers.
There
are no organized forums for
the meeting and discussions amongst beekeepers
which are essential and are available all over the world.
In India
beekeepers work in isolation and hence loose the benefits of
interaction with
others in the field. Whereas we have found during our visits and
interactions
with beekeepers in Europe Australia
etc.
that there is free flow of beekeeping information and knowledge amongst
beekeepers in those countries. In the field of beekeeping all over the
world new
techniques and improved
methods of beekeeping have essentially been developed in the field by
this
interaction amongst beekeepers and then scientists in the field.
It is thus
essential to improve our infrastructure and communication for the
success of
beekeeping in India.
Poor
Quality Control for the
Production of Honey
This is a
very
important aspect of beekeeping and needs to be stressed on if we are to
progress. It is not enough to produce large amounts of honey but that
is more
essential to produce quality honey. It is because of this reason which
most
Indian honeys do not come up to international quality standards. The
beekeeper
should therefore be quality conscious.
Some
beekeepers extract honey
from brood frames which process damages the brood and the honey
extracted is of
poor quality.
All
beekeepers do not maintain
separate super chambers for the production of honey. The honey is
produced in
old brood frames and so gets darker in colour and also is not so clean
as if
extracted from only super frames. Dark honeys fetch very low prices
internationally.
Since
many beekeepers do not use
queen excluders the
queen lays eggs in
the honey chamber thereby lower the honey quality.
Many
beekeepers do not wait for
the honey to be properly sealed before extracting. Honey only develops
the
flavour which is
particular to each
flower source if it is allowed to stay in the hive a little more after
the bees
seal the frames. Most beekeepers extract the honey while it is still
fresh and
not entirely sealed. This leads to high moisture content and low
quality.
Beekeepers
do not use the
technique of keeping supers in warm rooms with a forced airflow before
extraction. This produces honey with excess moisture. In the absence of
desired
warm extraction it
cannot be
sufficiently clear and so requires further heating before filtration which causes deterioration
of quality. Honey
from warm supers can be easily extracted and cleaned straight away by
simple
filtration through muslin.
In case
unripe
honey is extracted it
is high in
moisture content and lacking in colour
flavour and quality. In order to be able to market our
honey we must
improve its quality.
Honey is
also
poorly stored by beekeepers in old tins
which rust and so darken the honey further. Besides the honey in contact with
the old tin plate
becomes blackish in colour and loses flavour
the tins being produced now are mainly for oils and ghee
and do not have
sufficient tin plating to be able to store honey cleanly. Lacquered
tins are
expensive and so beekeepers do not use them for storing honey. Food
grade
plastic containers need to be developed for storing honey.
Emphasis
on Production of
Honey Instead of other Bee Products
At the
moment
only honey is produced by the beekeepers. Honey bee can also produce
pollen propolis royal jelly
beeswax bee
venom which can add
to the overall income from the bee live.
Bees
Wax
This is
easily
produced has great
demand in the world
market and is used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The
most
important producer of beeswax in India is Apis dorsata. This is not so
pure as
the beeswax obtained from Apis mellifera
which has a greater export demand. However to produce
beeswax from the
bee colonies supers
must have only 7 to
8 frames instead of 9 frames so that beekeepers can produce larger
quantities
of beeswax from the bees.
Pollen
Pollen is
not
produced at all in India. Pollen is a natural vegetarian protein source
containing many nutritive elements and minerals and can do much to
improve the
general nutritional intake in rural areas. It also has a great demand
in the
export market.
There is
tremendous potential for pollen production by the bees
particularly from coconut
the mustard species of oilseeds
maize
sunflower etc. Pollen is easy to produce and beekeepers
can use simple
technology to supplement the income from the hive by inducing bees to
collect
pollen. Pollen can be produced in tons.
Propolis
Propolis is
the
resinous substance collected by bees from trees to seal cracks in the
hive.
Propolis has been found to be a natural antibiotic and has many
medicinal
qualities when used externally or internally and is valuable in the
field of
Apitherapy. There is great demand for propolis for export.
Propolis
collection is by the use of special propolis screens and can be easily
mastered
by the average beekeeper.
A.c.
indica does not collect
propolis and there is great scope for the use of a mellifera for
propolis
collection.
Bee
venom
This is an
unexploited source of production from the bees in India
Bee venom has various medicinal uses in
Homeopathy Allopathy
and systems of
natural medicine. Extraction is complicated and can be done by
beekeepers with
great technical skill using special bee venom extractors in front of
the hive.
Royal
Jelly
This is
secreted
by the bees from special glands in their body and is used to feed the
queen bee
larva. It is supposed to have rejuvenant and beneficial properties like Ginseng. It contains
various natural
hormones and is a highly concentrated food. It has a great demand for
exports.
China has become a major producer and exporter of royal jelly. Royal
jelly
however can only be
produced by
beekeepers having high technical knowledge.
All the
above by
products from bees are not produced yet in India and can add to the
income of
beekeepers besides
having great scope
for exports.
Disease
Prevention Control
and Analysis
This is the
major constraint for the development of beekeeping in India. We need to
have
regional and also central bee disease analysis laboratories. At the
moment this
is lacking and as has been seen in the recent outbreak of sac brood in
the
South the
beekeepers could not get
timely help or advice regarding the disease that was killing their bees.
We
do not have disease control
inspectors to visit the beekeepers all over India. These inspectors
need to
have detailed training in being able to identify all the bee diseases
and also
take samples from apiaries to have them tested.
There
is no method of
registration of apiaries and beekeepers all over India. In America
disease
inspectors are there in each state who register apiaries and take
regular
samples to declare them disease free.
Breeding
apiaries must be
registered as such and only those whose colonies are free of disease
should be
allowed to sell queens and bees all over India. This is followed in
America
where breeders get their bee colonies certified disease free before
supplying
queens to other beekeepers.
There
is no control on the
movement of bee colonies all over India. Only colonies free from bee
diseases
should be allowed to be moved all over for migratory beekeeping. This
requires
us to set up the infrastructure for sampling and analysis of bee
colonies from
each apiary.
Beekeepers
use poor management
techniques like continued use of old frames and extracting honey from
brood
chambers. Weak colonies are allowed to survive and have the danger of
absconding and spreading disease. Honey is a carrier of brood diseases
of
honeybees and the practice of extracting honey from brood chambers is
dangerous
as brood can die when the honey is extracted and the dead brood in the
frame is
a source for the development of disease.
Beekeepers
do not use good
management practices of keeping their colonies clean and so the danger
of
disease is even more. Beekeepers need to be educated regarding these
procedures.
As can be
seen
there is much to be done for disease analysis
prevention and control at the National and regional level.
Lack
of Sufficient Financial Help from
Government and Lending Institutions for the Development of Beekeeping
Beekeeping
requires long term
loans at easy rates of interest. That is the procedure used by China to
take up
beekeeping in a big way. The bee colony produces honey only after
almost a year
initially and then seasonally. Beekeepers need help to be able to get
finance
for bee colonies and equipment.
Insurance
of bee colonies needs
to be done at a reasonable premium so that beekeepers can recover their
losses
in case of disease or the loss of bees due to other factors.
No
Tax or other Monetary Benefits for
Beekeeping
Beekeeping
is neither considered
an industry nor an agricultural activity and there is no tax benefit on
beekeeping income. Beekeeping is a long term developmental activity and
requires to be given tax incentives for people to take it up in a big
way.
China gave the beekeepers many incentives for them to take up
beekeeping and so
had a quick growth in this field.
Beekeeping
is also a high risk
activity and is dependent on the vagaries of the weather for
production. Many
times even though
flowering crops are
available nectar
secretion is low
because of climatic factors like moisture in the soil. Some times rain
at the
time of flowering causes the bees to collect little honey. The bee
keeper has
to be given financial support during seasons of bad honey harvest to
sustain
his colonies for the next season.
No
Control on the Use of Pesticides by
Farmers Leading to Death of Bee Colonies in Field Locations
The
indiscriminate use of pesticides leads to the destruction of bee
colonies in
the field
There
is no legislation
restricting the farmer from the use of pesticides that are harmful to
bee
colonies. In many countries farmers are required to inform beekeepers
in their
area as to when they may be spraying pesticides on their crops. India
has no
such system and bee colonies perish by the farmers using pesticides
harmful to
bees.
Only
pesticides that are not
harmful to bees should be used and should be propagated with farmers.
Bees are
very important pollinators and destroying them is a national loss as
well.
Pricing
Structures for Honey
There is a lot of lobbying by
farmers beekeepers
and beekeeping societies to give
the beekeeper high prices for honey. Himachal had fixed a support price
for
honey at Rs. 30 per kg. This has resulted in large stocks of honey
lying unsold
as beekeepers refuse to accept lower prices for their honey.
International
prices are around Rs. 20 per kg for the most superior quality honey. If
Australia can meet that basic price with their high basic costs as
compared to India
why should Indian beekeepers expect more for their honey here which in
any case
is not even up to world quality standards? To get more income from
honey yields
should be increased and not prices.
MORPHOLOGY
ANATOMY
COLONY Organization and Life Cycle
The
honeybee
belongs to family Apidae of order Hymenoptera. It shares the general
characters
of class Insecta. But the organ systems are variously modified to lead
a
specific life that is food habits social life and other ways of life. A
brief
account of different organs and the way they have been modified to
perform a
particular function as
essential for
understanding the activities of bees
is
given below.
Morphology
Head. The
head
of adult bee bears a pair of geniculate antennae. The third portion
(flagellum)
has many sensory structures which
are
mainly chemo and
mechano receptors. The
compound eyes are placed on the lateral sides of the head. Bees can
distinguish
colour but are red blind. They can perceive ultraviolet rays but cannot
perceive the red light spectrum that is beyond 620 m wavelength. Bees
can also
see polarized light. It is well known that bees communicate the food
sources
with reference to the position of the sun but even in cloudy days or
when the
sun is obscure the bees perform communication dance with reference to
the
position of the sun and this is done by receiving polarized light. In
the top
portion of head capsule the bee has three ocelli. The ocelli perceive
only the
degree of light and do not form an image on the retina.
Two
mandibles
are attached to ventro lateral part of the head capsule. The mandibles
differ
in the three castes of honeybee (Fig. 1). In workers the mandibles are
narrower
in the middle and broader at the base and at distal end. Each mandible
has a
channel both sides
of which have fringed
hairs. This channel leads to a groove
which ends at the opening of mandibular gland. The
mandibles are used
for grasping scraping
pollen from
anthers feeding
pollen and
manipulating wax during comb building.
Mandibles of the queen differ from those of workers in that they have
bilobed
distal end and there is no groove from the mandibular gland opening.
Mandibles
of drone are smaller in size and have faint groove
covered with long hairs
with an apical projection.
Fig.
1. Head capsules and
mandibles of castes of honeybees.
The
mouthparts
in worker bees are modified for sucking and lapping. The proboscis or
tongue which is
used for ingesting
liquids is formed
by median labium and
two lateral maxillae. Labium has long glossae. At the time of sucking
food galeae of
maxillae and labial palpi form the
anterior and posterior coverings and are appressed together with
paraglossae
forming the axial part of the food tube. The two paraglossae are united
together. The tongue has a deep grove with a partition made by a rod which is curved backwards.
One canal serves
as salivary canal through which the saliva is ejected on the food
before
feeding and the food is ingested through the second canal. The tongue
has a
spoon shaped lobe at the end. With the lapping motion of the tongue the
liquid
food is drawn into the food canal of the proboscis and the food channel
leads
to mouth cavity. The preoral cibarium and postoral pharynx form sucking
pump.
With the help of sucking pump the food is forced into the oesophagous
and honey
stomach.
Worker bees
feed
the young larvae and the queen with the glandular food called royal jelly . The food is
secreted by
hypopharyngeal glands which
are long
coiled strings of small lobes and are present in the head region. The
brood
food appears at the base of the open mandibles of the nurse bees.
Thorax. As
is
common with other insects the second body region
thorax
consists of three segments and is joined to the third
region abdomen
by a narrow propodeum. Thorax carries the organs of
locomotion the legs
and wings. The leg of honeybee is composed
of basal coxa femur long tibia
tarsus and pretarsus. Tarsus is subdivided into tarsomeres
and small
pretarsus bears the claw. Besides locomotion the legs in honeybees are
also
modified to perform other functions. Prothoracic legs serve as antenna
cleaner.
The basal part of the basitarsus has a notch and small lobe projects
from the
distal end of tibia. The notch has two rows of spines. The flagellum of
the
antenna is placed on the notch and the tarsus is flaxed against tibia.
The
antenna is drawn upward and is thus cleaned in between the notch and
the
projecting clasp. The modification is met with in all the three castes
of
honeybees. Hind legs in worker bees are modified for pollen and
propolis
collection. The tibia has double row of curved hairs the
space enclosed in between these is called
corbicula or pollen basket. Adjacent margins of tibia and tarsus have
notch.
Notch on the tibial margin has a row of stiff spines and the opposite
trasal
margin is modified into a lip called auricle which is also fringed with
hairs.
Hairy brushes on the tarsi of fore and middle legs collect pollen
sticking to
head and thorax regions respectively.
The pollen from fore leg is transferred to middle leg of the respective
side.
The spines on the tibial end of the hind leg brushes the pollen from
opposite
leg. The pollen falls on flat surface of auricle. By the upward
movement of
tarsus the pollen on the auricle is pressed against the outer surface
of the
tibia and thus a pollen load is accumulated.
Fig.
2. Mouth parts of worker
bee.
Abdomen.
The
abdomen in adult worker and queen appears to be six segmented segments 8 to 10 are
reduced in size whereas
first is transferred to thorax during pupal stage. The abdomen bears
sting wax and scent
glands and genitals and also
contains the principal viscera inside.
Fig.
3. Hind leg of worker bee.
Sting. In
worker
bee the egg laying apparatus (ovipositor) is modified into a sting.
Sting is
formed by three long stylets attached to the bulb. The ends of the
stylets have
two lancets which
are hollow and when
in contact with each other they
form a poison canal. The bulb at the
base of shaft made by lencets is supplied by poison sac
which is the reservoir of poison gland. Venom
is injected into the body of the victim with each movement of the
stylet. These
movements continue even after the sting has been inserted. The lancets
have
curved barbs and the sting apparatus is broken off from the bee s body
in the
attempt to pull it out. Queen has well developed poison glands with
large poison
sac but the lancets lack the curved barbs and she uses it for stinging
the
rival queens.
Wax glands.
Wax
glands are situated in the sternites of 4 to 7 abdominal segments.
These are
polished plates (mirrors) and formed by the modification of epidermis.
The wax
glands become active in the worker bee at the age of 14 to 18 days. Wax
is
secreted in liquid form which
solidifies
into thin flakes.
Scent
glands.
The scent glands are present in the thin membrane connecting the last
two
abdominal terga. The Bee bends her abdomen and exposes the membrane to
produce
the scent. The odour produced by the cells is derived from scented
waste
products of metabolism.
Anatomy
The
first part of the digestive
tract consists of mouth pharynx
and
oesophagus with expanded honey stomach. Following the honey stomach
(sac) is a
valve which
regulates passage of food
into ventriculus. The valve can remove the pollen from nectar and by
the action
of this valve nectar can be retained in honey sac while the pollen
passes to
the ventriculus. Digestive enzymes are released by the epithelial
lining of the
stomach. Digested sugars are absorbed into the blood through the walls
of the
ventriculus. Digested proteins (amino acids) are absorbed in the small
intestine. The small intestine leads to rectum
which holds the faeces until it is discharged during
flight.
Honeybee
has
open circulatory system formed by the heart and the aorta. The blood is
pumped
from the five chambered heart into the aorta. The chambers of the heart
have
ostial valves which allow the blood to enter into the heart but
backward
movement to body cavity is prevented. The blood is poured into the body
cavity
below the brain at the anterior opening of aorta. The organ systems
freely
bathe in the blood in the body cavity. The muscle movement of dorsal
diaphragm
helps in pumping the blood whereas
ventral diaphragm beats in backward direction.
Respiration
takes place through spiracles present on lateral sides of various
segments of
the body. Spiracular openings are attached to tracheae
which ramify into trancheoles. The tracheae
and tracheoles supply oxygen to respective segments of the body.
Excretory
system
is of generalized type. Many thin tubes called Malpighian tubules extend in the body cavity
around various
organs. They collect waste metabolites from the blood present in the
body
cavity.
Brain and
ventral nerve cord constitute the central nervous system. Brain has
three
distinct parts the
anterior most having
optic lobes antennal
lobes and mushroom
bodies. Mushroom bodies are the centres of instinct and memory co
ordination.
Ventral nerve cord has seven nerve centres (ganglia). These centres
innervate
the various body regions. Sensory nerves extend from the receptive
cells of the
sense organ to central nervous system. Eyes are the important sense
organs. On
the body of the bee there
are innervated
hairs which
perceive the mechanical
stimulus. Small thin walled peg like hairs can perceive odour.
Female
reproductive system is fully developed in queen but in workers the
system is
greatly reduced. Two large ovaries have a number of egg tubules or
overioles which
lead to lateral
oviducts. The two lateral oviducts join posteriorily to form median
oviduct which leads
to vagina. Spermatheca is a pouch
like structure and serves as storehouse for sperms. The spermatheca is
connected to vagina by a spermathecal duct. Tongue like valve fold
closes the
opening of median oviduct when the sperms are pushed into the
spermatheca.
Bursa copulatrix accomodates penis at the time of copulation. The valve
fold
when raised makes
the micropyle of the
egg to come in contact with the sperm released from the spermatheca and
the
fertilization takes place. The ovipositor which is modified into a
sting helps
in depositing the egg. Soon after mating
the sperms migrate from the vagina to the spermatheca which stores about five
million spermatozoa.
These spermatozoa remain viable get
nourishment during storage and are released in small numbers for the
fertilization of the eggs. Male reproductive system has paired testes
with one
vasa deferentia each. Both the vasa defrentia join posteriorly and form
an
ejaculatory duct which
leads to penis.
Two mucous glands unite with ejaculatory duct. On an average each drone
produces 1 mm3 semen in A. mellifera and 0.16 mm3 in A. cerana indica.
Fig.
4. Reproductive organs of
drone worker and
queen.
Colony organization
Honeybees
are
social insects and live in colonies with a highly organized system of
division
of labour. There are three castes
queen workers
and drones. In a
normal colony there is one queen 10
000
to 30 000 workers and a few hundred drones. In A. mellifera colony the
number
of workers before honey flow may go to 60 000 70 000.
Queen.
The queen is the only
perfectly developed female and is the mother of the colony. In the peak
of the
season she may lay
large number of eggs
in a day weight of
which is almost twice
the weight of her body.
She mates
with
the drones the male
bee in the air only
once in her lifetime. The
stock of male sperms received during mating is preserved in a pouch
like
structure spermatheca in her body. She draws
upon it for a long
time (which may be two or three years) to regulate the sex of the
offsprings.
She can lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs at her will. From the former workers and sexual females
or potential
queens and from the latter drones are produced. The differentiation in
the
workers and the queen is not due to the quality
as previously believed
but to the
quantity of the food fed to the larvae. The partial stravation from about the third day of the female larvae that
are reared in
worker cells results
in their
differential growth and they become workers instead of queens which they would have
become if they would
have been lodged in the larger queen cells and had constant access to
more
food. The queen in her rounds over the combs lays eggs in the worker queen or drone cells. The
eggs are generally
laid in concentric circles. As the old queen shows signs of decline in
laying
fertilized eggs or if a colony is under swarming
supersedural or emergency impulse
new queens are reared in specially prepared
queen cells. On emergence a new queen roams about on the combs feeds herself on honey and
takes one or more
orientation flights out of the hive after 5 to 10 days of emergence. On
her
mating flights she is followed by drones and have multiple matings in
one or
more days. Her mate dies during the act of copulation and falls on the
ground.
The queen returns to the hive with the mating sign
the male reproductive organ attached to her
reproductive opening which
is removed by
the worker bees. After 2 to 4 days she starts laying eggs first slowly then
vigorously. The number of
eggs laid depend upon the amount and kind of food she receives from the
workers
and the availability of other favourable conditions for egg laying and
brood
rearing.
The queen
is
heavily worked individual and quickly transforms the food given to her by the workers into eggs. She however
lacks the motherly instinct and the function of nursing
the young ones
is performed by the worker bees. An A. mellifera queen lays up to 1 800
eggs
per day during active brood rearing season but A. cerana indica queen
lays from
500 to 1 000 eggs per day. Number of eggs laid by queen of Indian bees
in
Kashmir is comparable to A. mellifera. Egg laying rate diminishes with
the age
and in failing queens.
Worker. The
worker bees are imperfectly developed females. Unable to reproduce but possess all the
maternal instincts. They
are responsible for the maintenance and welfare of the colony. Division
of
labour in worker bees is on a physiological basis
which is explained elsewhere in this book.
A worker
bee has
no individual existence and throughout her life she labours for the
good of the
colony. The worker bee is capable of performing a definite amount of
work and
she dies when that is accomplished. Consequently
during honey flow season when she has to work
at a tremendous pace she
lives only for
about six weeks but during off season.
as in winter or in cold climate her life extends up to six
months. At
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu which
has
equitable climate A.
cerana indica
worker lives for 50 days the
extremes
being 44 and 54 days. Kapil found the life span to be 25 42 days from
January
to April and 45 days in May in Uttar Pradesh.
Drone. The
only
function of the male bee is to mate with the queen. Drone has short
tongue but
does not collect food from flowers. The tongue is used to receive food
from
worker bees. Drone has no wax and scent glands. Generally it takes 3 to
6
worker bees to feed a drone. Drones are reared and tolerated during the
breeding season in spring and in some places in autumn
when new queens are to be mated. They are
driven out of the hive to die of starvation when not needed. The normal
life
span of an A. cerana drone has been worked out to be 57 days in Tamil
Nadu.
The three
castes
of bees depend on each other for their existence. The lonely worker bee
may not
live for more than two or three days under the best of simulated
environmental
conditions. The queen bee also cannot form or even start a colony
because she
is physically incapable of secreting wax
building a comb collecting
food
from the field or rearing brood. In fact
she requires the services of several wokers to feed and
groom her and to
do other jobs for her. A drone would not last beyond four hours without
food. A
normal colony must have a fecundated queen capable of laying plenty of
fertilized eggs and a large number of workers of varying age as the
latters fitness to
do different tasks depends on
their age. A colony is termed weak or
strong according
to the number of
worker bees it possesses. A colony of Apis cerana indica bees with 10
000 to 15
000 bees (906 1359 g) is considered an average colony at higher
altitudes.
Drones are not necessary to the normal welfare of a colony but they are
needed
only during the mating seasons to fecundate virgin queens.
Development
The
honeybee
undergoes an indirect development (metamorphosis). The four stages of
development are the
egg the larva
the pupa and the adult. Duration of development of worker
bee of A.
cerana indica is given in Table 1. The mother queen glues or sticks a
short
delicate white tubular egg slightly
curved on one side at
the bottom of the
cell of a comb. From this egg a
tiny white larva
hatches out and feeds
voraciously on the food supplied by the nurse bees. When fully fed it
weighs
more than 1 500 times of its original weight. The cell is capped by the
worker
bees with a waxen cover. The fully fed larva spins a cocoon in the cell
and
enters a period of rest during which it transforms itself into pupa.
The major
changes in the structure of the body occur at the cost of the fat
stored in the
body by the larva. The pupa is similar in appearance to the adult bee having developed mouth
parts legs
wings and other appendages of the body. The adult bee
emerges after
cutting the cocoon and the waxen capping of the cell. Table 2 shows the
time
taken by the three castes of the Indian honeybee in the three stages of
development.
Food of the
Honeybees Bee Flora
and Honey Flow
Periods
Food of the Honeybees
The
natural diet of the bees
consists of carbohydrates proteins vitamins
salts etc. The nectar of the flowers
which the bees collect and convert into honey is the source of
carbohydrates and vitamins.
Pollen the yellow
powder in the
flowers is the main
source of protein
and it is mixed with honey before it is fed to the larvae. The winged
bees when they are
young also feed on
this mixture. Soon they become
strong and secrete the royal jelly
which
forms the food of the queen and
of the
larvae in the early states of growth. These young bees thus act as
nurse bees but as
they grow older they take up the field
duties and feed on honey only. In a hive
the nurse bees are often seen going from one cell to
another feeding the
young larvae.
For brood
rearing it is
important that there are
plenty of flowers in nature as the source of pollen and honey. For the
growth
of one larvae of honeybees into an adult bee
one cell full of honey and one cell of pollen is required.
In other
words two frames of
honey and pollen are
required by the bees to raise one frame of brood.
Bees can
also
use the sugar syrup as food (sugar dissolved in an equal quantity of
water).
Sugar is offered to supplement honey resources or in the extreme case
to save
the weak colonies from starvation. Early in the spring
when the flowers are not in abundance bees
can be stimulated to start brood rearing
and it should synchronise with the main honey flow so that the bees can take
best advantage of
it. Under proper management not
more
than one or two kilograms of sugar are needed to be used in a
year/colony. A
colony of normal size should have at least six to eight pounds of honey
(two or
three frames) in reserve. When the stores fall below this level bees should be fed
artificially. If sugar is
given as a winter reserve the
syrup
should be thick prepared
by mixing two
parts of sugar with one part of warm water.
To prevent
robbing by the bees of other colonies
sugar feeding should be done in the late evening. The hive
should be
made bee proof that is all crevices
holes should be closed. Then sugar is put in a feeder or
in a wide
mouthed cup and placed inside the hive. Small pieces of wheat or rice
straw
should be placed to serve as floats on the surface of the liquid. Bees
will sit
on these floats while feeding and will not get drowned or smeared with
sugar.
The sugar syrup can also be filled in the combs. For this purpose an empty comb is removed
from the colony and
is held in the standing position in a tray. The sugar syrup is poured
on or
made to run over the comb. When one side is full
the other side can be filled. This is the
safest and easiest method of feeding the bees.
Collection
of
food in honeybees is a social enterprise and more then 10 000 of
foragers may
be engaged together in collecting nectar and pollen. The foraging is
designed
in a way to achieve high efficiency. The foragers sacrifice their
individual
foraging efficiency for colony efficiency. When they have discovered a
rich
source of food they
communicate the
information through various types of dances to their hive mates. High
foraging
efficiency is achieved as a result of sharing information about
location of
rich food sources. Four important resources include nectar pollen
water and resin. Nectar and pollen are diet water is used for
evaporative cooling of the
nest in hot days and resin is used for plugging the unwanted openings.
Colonies
managed
for honey production rear 1 50 000 to 2 00 000 bees annually and
consume 15 to
30 kg of pollen and up to 80 kg of honey. The number of trips required
to pool
these materials could be quite astonishing. To collect 20 kg of pollen approx 1 3 million
foraging trips are required.
Each trip on an average measure 4 5 km of distance. Likewise to collect 60 kg of honey 3 million foraging trips
are required. In
brief each colony can be thought of as an organism which weighs 1 to 5
kg
(biomass of bees 7700 bees/kg)
rears 1
50 000 bees and
consumes 20 kg of pollen and 60 kg of
honey/year. To collect this food several million foraging trips are
required
and foragers fly about 20 million kilometers.
Bee Flora
Honeybees
are
entirely dependent upon flowering plants for their food requirement.
This means
that if there are no flowers in any season
honeybees don t get their food. One of the major problems
in beekeeping
is the presence of floral dearth periods
which result in dwindling
and
desertion of the bee colonies. Every locality has floral dearth periods
of long
or short durations. Beekeepers have to ensure regular supply of food to
the bee
colonies to run the industry efficiently.
Nectar is
the
sweet liquid which
comes from floral and
extra floral resources and is the raw material for honey. Pollen is
highly
protein aceous food for bees. The plants that yield both these
substances are
collectively called as bee
pasturage .
The period when good number of plants providing nectar and pollen are
available
to bees is called as honey
flow period .
If the nectar yield is copious from a good number of plants of a
particular
species is called as Major
honey flow
period . When the amount of nectar to be collected is small is called as minor honey flow period .
The day when there
is no honey flow period is called as
Dearth period . Since nectar and pollen plants are basic
requirements
for beekeeping and honey production their knowledge is essential for
beekeepers. Bee forage plants may be fruits
vegetables oil
seeds ornaments
crops herbs shrubs
bushes forest
and avenue trees
and weeds in field. Efficient beekeeping means managing honeybee
colonies in
such a way to obtain maximum colony population to coincide with the
major honey
flow in an area and to utilise the population for honey production and
pollination.
There are
three
basic problems. (1) To determine when the honey flow occurs. To build
up colony
population in preparation to this honey flow season. (3) What to do
after main
honey flow season?
To
determine
when the honey flow occurs.
Make
seasonal survey to identify
the nectar and pollen yielding plants. (2) Make survey to record the
flowering
period of these plants. (3) Determine whether the plants are visited by
honeybees for nectar pollen
or both (4)
determine whether bees could collect
surplus honey from some abundant crops
(5) determine what are the nectar secreting flowering
plants besides the
major crops of the area? (6) How long a dearth period if any lasts? (7)
Examine
weather records data and altitudinal variations.
The
suitability
of beekeeping in a locality will depend upon answers to these
questions. If
nectar secreting plants are available in a large number
that is there are one or two major honey flow
periods with minor honey flow periods during other parts of the year
and the
dearth period of not long duration then beekeeping can be successful in
that
area.
During the
honey
flow period a good colony of honeybees may collect from one to two kg
of honey
per day. It should be kept in mind that a few fruit trees or flowering
plants
or a vegetable farm or garden cannot sustain any number of bee colonies
leaving
alone surplus honey is hoped for they
must be able to take advantage of many across honey yielding pasturage.
April and
May
are usually considered to be the period of nectar flow. After honey flow there comes the hot months
of June and July
when most of the colonies stop brood rearing in the lower hills and in
the
plains.
The
bees which had put
in hard work in collecting
resources die of
old age and strength of
the colony depletes. Some bees are also lost in their effort to keep
the hives
well ventilated and cool.
The monsoon
season starts in the first week of July and because of the heavy rains
bees
generally stay inside. Some of those
which go out for field duties
are
lost in the heavy downpour and the strength of the colonies depletes
further.
This is a very difficult period for the bees.
The enemies
of
the bees such as wax moths wasps
and
ants become active and make the colonies abscond. During July and August pollen from maize becomes
available and is
used in brood rearing. The colonies thus further use their honey
reserves. If
such weak colonies are not fed on sugar
they have a tendency to leave hives and abscond. The
shortage of food
and insufficient number of field bees are the main causes of this
behaviour.
Furthermore strong
colonies acquire a
tendency to attack the weak ones and ransack their poor honey reserves.
This
dearth continues throughout autumn and during these months therefore
colonies need particular care and management.
The honey
flow
period dearth
periods etc. varies from
one location to another and with altitudes.
The
flowering
periods of even the same plant species vary in different geographical
regions
and agroclimalic zones.
For
instance in
the lower hills and valley areas of Himachal Pradesh the season for
activities
of bees starts right from the advent of the winter when sarson flowers
are
available in the fields. Then fruit crops provide flowers in the 2nd
week of February.
They are followed by the flowering of Eucalyptus
Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo)
Tun (Cedrella toona)
and their flowers continue upto the end of
April. After a gap of about one week
the
soapnut (Sapindus sp) starts blooming which provides the main honey
flow. It
continues upto the end of May and surplus honey is extracted in the end
of May
or the first week of June.
Under
Punjab
conditions surplus
honey is stored from
Eucalyptus shisham citrus
stone fruits litchi
and barseem
flowers in March April
and May. Then
follows the dearth period up to September and during this period the
bees visit
a number of wild flowers and
the
blossoms of maize in the end of July. In the oilseed and cotton growing
areas
bees also store surplus honey from toria
cotton arhar
etc. in September
and October.
In the
higher
altitudes of Himachal Pradesh winter is much colder and the bees are
very much
restricted in their activities. The stone fruits including pear almond
plum cherry apple
apricot etc.
blossom in the
spring and the bees are stimulated to rear their broods. In the
beginning of
May barberry flowers provide minor honey flow periods followed by
soapnut in
the end of the June. Early in August
maize inflorescences provide pollen for brood rearing to
bees. The
colony strength increases. At the end of August
Plectranthus blossoms appear which continue up to the end
of October.
This provides the main honey flow season. Extraction is done towards
the end of
the October leaving
sufficient honey
reserves for the bees to tide over winter.
In Kashmir the activity is instigated
with the
appearance of early blossoms from Salix
Narcissus Brassica Pyrus
Prunus etc.
in Feb March. During
April June blossoms of Iris Robinia Corylis
Castanea Aesculus Alianthus Rose etc. provide the
requirements at the peak
of brood rearing activity and occasionally also lead to a spring honey
crop.
While fruit
blossoms mustards
and other early
flowering herbs greatly help in encouraging brood rearing activity and
in
building up some reserves of nectar and pollen. Vegetable blossoms and
other
flowering annuals and trees which
appear
during May and June perform
valuable
sources. July and August are the dearth periods. During August
September
colonies are migrated to higher altitudes where pollen and nectar
sources such
as Zea Zinnia Thyme
Mentha Cyanoglossum Balsam etc. play an
important role in gearing
up the bee activity. Among the various shrubs providing nectar or
pollen or
both Plectranthus
rugosus Wall which
flowers from mid August to mid October
provides for a major part of the honey flow in autumn because of its abundance
on many hillocks in
Kashmir. Saffron (Crocus) blossoms during late October to mid November if availed are of immense
value to bees for
brood rearing even in late fall.
In Jammu April provides the major
honey flow
period June July
August are dearth
periods. During August September colonies are migrated to higher
altitudes to
utilise Plectranthus rugosus. October onwards rapeseed and mustard
crops are
available up to Feb followed
by fruit
blossoms etc. J&K state has varied climates
habitats which
support varied
type of vegetation and cultivated crops. Broadly it may be divided into
Subtropical
zone
Intermediate
zone
Temperate
zone
A list of
the
important honey plants in Jammu & Kashmir is presented in Table
(1 2).
Similarly floral
calendars of beekeeping
plants are available in different states. However
a particular crop may be good bee plant in
one locality but can be quite otherwise in another locality. Honey
production
from a crop in the same area may vary from year to year.
Diseases of Bees
and their Enemies
There has been a revolution
in the methods of
beekeeping for efficient management of bee colonies. Prevention and
control of
diseases and enemies has been an essential aspect of management.
Honeybees are
affected by large number of viral
bacterial and protozoan organisms
ecto and
endo parasitic
mites insects and
non insect enemies.
The extent of losses varies from death of some brood or adults to
complete
annihilation of colonies. Colonies may survive the infection or
infestation but
any extent of severity leads to loss in honey yields. Diagnosis of
maladies has
been possible by refined methods with the help of sophisticated
equipments. But
essentially the need is to detect the infection at the initial stages
because
it is easy to treat the colonies at that stage.
Bee
diseases are
spread from one colony to another or from one apiary to another mainly
by
robber bees swarms
or migration of
colonies. Because of these quarantine measures within the country or
between
the countries which
have geographical
contiguity are not
feasible.
Restrictions on the movement of bees between the countries which are separated by
barriers seem
useful and practicable.
Spread of
diseases is also frequent by manipulative operations in the apiary.
Beekeeper
may be required to transfer honey and pollen combs from one colony to
another.
Similarly weaker colonies may need to be strengthened by transferring
brood
frames or combs with adult bees. Even uniting of colonies has to be
resorted to
in certain circumstances. Providing water in a container in apiary is
another
hazardous practice. All these manipulations lead to spread of diseases
and
parasites from affected to healthy colonies. Disease spread is even
possible
through hands hive
tools etc. while
examining the colonies.
Therefore beekeeping
requires not only
the knowledge of basic principles of colony management but beekeepers
should be
well familiar with the nature of bee diseases. Early diagnosis of
disease
infection and prompt application of control measures is very important.
Many
diseases which
affect honeybees in other
countries are not
yet serious in India
but there are isolated reports of their incidence except for some viral
diseases. Any known diseases in the West can be expected to appear in
epidemic
form in India too and therefore very brief account of all
the diseases and
enemies is given here.
Viral Diseases
Many viral
diseases of honeybees are known but the extent and severity of
different
viruses vary. The bee viruses appear to be species specific. Three
viruses viz. Apis
irridescent virus Thai
sac brood virus and Kashmir bee
virus have been
reported from India. Out
of these three the
first two have been
devastating Apis cerana indica in some parts of the country.
Thai sac brood virus
This viral
disease was first detected in India in Apis cerana indica in Meghalaya
in 1978.
The causative virus multiplies in adults
which transmit the virus to larvae. Trophallaxis swarms and drifting are
believed to be the
reasons of spread of the disease. Exchange of brood combs in between
the
colonies is the reason of spread within the apiary. Sac brood disease which is a closely related
virus disease in
many other countries is
not considered
serious but Thai sac brood took up to 95% toll of Indian honeybee
colonies
during early eighties in northern India. The disease occurred with
similar
severity in south India during 1991 92.
Symptoms.
(i)
Brood die in prepupal but in unsealed stage. (ii) Dead larvae
straighten out
and lie on their backs with
tip of the
head capsule turned upwards (iii)
Dead
prepupae turn into sac like structure
(iv) Affected larvae are yellow or greyish
later darkening to blackish
the change in colour first starts from mouth
parts and head (v)
Dead larvae and
prepupae dry up in brood cells forming loose scales.
No definite
preventive or remedial measures against the disease are available but keeping the colonies
strong avoiding
exchange of hive parts and
restricted movement of bees are suggested. Natural selection of
tolerant
colonies is expected and in endemic areas the surviving colonies can be
multiplied with screening for disease tolerance in each generation.
Apis Iridescent Virus
This viral
disease was reported from north western states of India in the
seventies. The
virus is specific to A. cerana indica and even in mixed apiaries the
disease
does not appear in A. mellifera. It forms crystals in tissues where the
virus
multiplies. The crystals appear bright blue violet or green when
observed under
microscope with incident light. This is also revealed even with hand
lens or in sunlight
with the naked eye. The virus
multiplies in the fat bodies and other tissues of adult bees.
Symptoms.
(i)
Infected bees form clusters on the inside and later on the outside
walls of the
hive hence it is
also called as clustering
disease (ii)
Many crawling bees are found on the
ground (iii) Worker
bees stop
foraging sit
listlessly and even brood
rearing is stopped (iv)
Queen stops egg
laying and the eggs laid are not attended by nurse bees. (v) Death of
the
entire colony follows.
Kashmir Bee Virus
The virus
was
first isolated from diseased samples of A. cerana indica from Kashmir.
Strains
of Kashmir bee virus have also been found in Apis mellifera in
Australia. All
stages of development die in the affected colony. The virus is
transmitted by
injection or even by contact of body surface and death is fast.
Bee Viruses not Found in India
There
are several virues found
infecting Apis mellifera in other countries but not yet reported from
India.
Now A. mellifera is established in India and is fast spreading therefore
any of the diseases known in the West can appear in India
too in future.
Sac brood
virus.
Infected larvae fail to pupate and lie stretched on their back with
head turned
upwards. The larva becomes sac like because fluid is filled in between
the new
integument and the unshed skin. Colour of the larva turns pale yellow
and finally
becomes dark brown the
darkening starts
from the head region. The virus multiplies in hypopharyngeal glands of
adult
bees.
Paralysis
virus.
The infected bees have trembling motion of wings and bodies. They are
unable to
fly crawl on the
ground and bees become
dysentric. There is no particular season of the year for viral
infection but
overcrowding is suggested to enhance infestation.
Black queen
cell
virus. Infected queen larvae turn yellow and resemble sacbrood infected
larvae.
The queen cell tips become black.
Bee Virus X
and
Y. Cloudy wing particle and Acute Bee Paralysis are other viral
diseases of A.
mellifera.
Bacterial Diseases
American Foul Brood
Bacillus
larvae
is the causative bacterium of the disease. The disease occurs in
temperate and
sub tropical regions of the world. There is solitary report of the
disease
incidence in India on Apis cerana indica but no incidence has been
observed on
Apis mellifera since its establishment in the country.
Infected
brood
is invariably found dead after spinning of the cocoon in the sealed
cell. The
dead prepupae lie straight with head towards the opening of the cell.
Cell
capping of infected brood becomes darker in colour
sunken and perforated. A tooth pick inserted
into the body of prepupa and drawn out shows ropiness. The putrefying
brood
turns brown and has fish glue odour. Dead broods dry up into scales which adhere to the cell
bottom. Large number
of spores is formed and is present in the scale. Hive bees pick up the
spores
while cleaning the cells and spread the disease. The spores germinate
in the
gut of the larvae the
rods penetrate the
gut wall and multiplication takes place in the body cavity. The spores
are very
resistant and they remain infective even under desiccation for 35
years. The
disease may subside during some parts of the year and reappear later.
There is
no seasonal cycle and outbreak appears when the brood is present.
Destruction
of
affected colonies and the equipment
though suggested is
a costly and
cumbersome measure. Fumigation can be resorted for sterilizing the
equipment.
Formaline @ 6 ml per litre volume space sterilizes the equipment in a
fortnight. Ethylene oxide 1
g/litre
space at 43°C for 48 hr is effective for sterilization but forms
explosive
mixture with air. Many antibiotics have been tested with variable
efficacy.
Terramycin 250 400 mg in 5 litres of sugar syrup fed to the diseased
colony
twice at weekly intervals is effective. Antibiotic treatment can be
made as a
routine prophylactic measure in case the disease appears in the
country.
Resistant bees have
been selected in the
USA on the basis of presence of genes responsible for the expression of
bee
behaviour in uncapping the cells of dead brood and removing the same.
The
resistant stocks are available in country like USA.
European Foul Brood
The causal
bacterium was earlier placed in the genus Streptococcus but in 1981
Bailey and
Collins showed that the bacterium have nucleic acid composition which
qualifies
to place it under different genus and it was named as Melissococcus
pluton.
Diseased larvae are killed usually when 4 5 days old. Diseased larvae
become
flaccid turn brown
and give foul sour
smell. European foul brood disease is present in most countries.
Infection was
once observed in Maharashtra in 1971 on A. cerana indica by Diwan and
co
workers. Bacteria on
swallowing with
food multiplies in
mid gut and are
discharged with faeces. Older larvae are less susceptible to infection.
The extent
of disease is higher in spring and there is recovery during honey flow.
Control
of the disease is achieved by sterlizing the equipment with ethylene
oxide and
Terramycin feeding as explained under American foul brood.
Pesticidal
Poisoning to Honeybees
Tropical and subtropical
climate of India presents
suitable conditions for the outbreak and appearance of many pest
problems. The
pest problems have been further aggravated by the advancement in
agricultural
technology. Irrigated crops intensive
agriculture introduction
of crops and
crop varieties and disturbing the indigenous and primitive cropping
patterns
have contributed in increasing the pest problem of crops. Reduction in
uncultivated land corners
and bunds
destroy nesting and hibernating places of wild pollinators and
succession of
nectar and pollen yielding flowers round the year is destroyed.
Weedicides are
used to control the weeds and hence lead to starvation of pollinating
insects.
The advanced agricultural technology has helped to destroy the
agriculture
cycle through indirect effect. There is also a prominent negative
direct
factor i.e. the insect pollinators are
killed by
pesticidal usage in crop protection. There is increasing use of
pesticides for
the control of rodents mites insects
nematodes and fungal and bacterial diseases of crop
plants. The loss by bee
kill is direct i.e. loss of honey production
and indirect
inadequate pollination of crops resulting in reduced productivity.
Entomologists
have been loudly talking about pest management or integrated pest
management.
Virtually speaking there is hardly any form of integrated pest
management in
India and blanket pesticidal applications are given. Most farmers apply
large
quantities of pesticides at regular intervals and in most cases the
pesticides
are non selective coupled with untimely application. Unfortunately
honeybees
are susceptible to many pesticides used in pest control programmes.
This
problem is recently overshadowing all other problems in apiculture.
Farmers in
India have small holdings and hand sprayers/ dusters are commonly used
for
treating small area each day. This results into a continuous threat of
chemical
poisoning to bees. Moreover there
is no
coordination between the beekeepers and the farmers by any Government
decree
and therefore measures
to save bees
cannot be taken.
Large
number of
killed bees are found in front of the hives or in the fields by
insecticidal
poisoning. It is not possible to quantify the loss in terms of food
production
or to assess the financial value of the bees killed. Even more
important is the
loss in future crop yields because a beekeeper whose bees are killed
gives up
beekeeping and others too are discouraged to take up beekeeping.
Therefore a balance
sheet between the gains in crop
yields by control of pests and losses due to decreased pollinator
activity and
honey production by bee kill should be worked out. While controlling
pests the
scientists and farmers are looking on to one aspect of the economic
considerations in insecticidal applications. Our primary aim should be
to
assess how crop pests can be kept under control without killing insect
pollinators and to ensure optimum pollination by these insects.
Widespread
destruction of beneficial insects (including pollinators) often occurs
as a
consequence of irresponsible and improper use of pesticides. It should
be
accepted that some loss is inevitable in certain circumstances and that
a
realistic aim should be an acceptably low level of loss rather than
complete
protection of bees. In short the following constraints are important
Use
of inapropriate pesticides ill
timed
wrong methods of application
wrong formulations and unnecessary high doses
Over
reliance on chemical methods
of pest control and
Absence
of certain essential
instructions and legislation for using pesticides.
How is Bees Exposed to Pesticidal Hazards
Many of the
Indian crop plants need cross pollination and about one third of the
cropped
area is under entomophilous crops. These crops are infested by pests
even
during flowering and their depredations warrant the application of
control measures.
The pesticidal control of the pests of crops which also serve as bee
forage
pose serious danger and eliminates large population of insect
pollinators. Some
points on the use of insecticides for pest control vis a vis insect
pollination
in some of the important crops are highlighted here.
Cotton. It
is
the most dangerous crop for bees. As many as 15 20 insecticidal
applications at
shorter and regular intervals are recommended for the control of
various cotton
pests. The flowering continues for about 2 months and during this
period
insecticides are regularly applied for the control of many pests like
bollworms aphids bugs
etc. Foraging bees are killed by these sprays. New
generation of bees
develop in 3 weeks. Insecticidal applications at shorter intervals than
this kill more
adult bees than can be
replaced and ultimately the colonies die. But co ordinated application
of
insecticides can minimize bee kill. (1) Flowering in cotton continues
for about
2 months but flowers that set fruit appear within 3 4 weeks. Therefore use of insecticides during
this period should
be reduced so that bees can be moved to the crop. (2) Nectar in flowers
and
extra floral nectaries is exhausted by mid day and very few bees are
foraging
in the afternoon when insecticides can be applied with reduced hazards
to bees.
(3) Air spraying has picked up for cotton. In such a situation the
colonies
should be located away from the flight path of the plane.
Brassica
and
vegetable seed crops. These are attacked by aphids
caterpillars and bugs during flowering and
pod formation stage. These crops include oilseeds Brassica seed crops of cauliflower cabbage
raddish turnip carrot
fennel and coriander. In these crops too the flowering is
greatly
extended lasting
for about l l½ months.
These crops need insecticidal applications during flowering periods.
But all
these crops are also enthusiastically foraged by bees which are very
useful
pollinators of these crops. There is extensive pesticidal poisoning to
bees on
these crops. There are no specific recommendations to safeguard bees
and only
general guidelines to reduce bee kill can be followed
though Singh (1969) sprayed Endosulphan on
mustard to control aphids at 0800
0900 1630
or 1730 hrs and found
that Apis spp. foraged between 1030 and 1530 hr without any effect on
foraging
intensity and no bees were killed.
Sunflower.
Its
cultivation is gaining importance in India. Bees contribute much in
increased
crop production by pollination services but bee losses have been
reported by
insecticidal sprays for the control of aphids and caterpillars. In
India
Endosulphan was found to be less toxic to honeybees than Fenthion Carbaryl or Parathion and
seed set and yield
were not affected since bee activity was not reduced in Endosulphan
sprayed plots
(Ramakrishna et al. 1974 Bhattacharya et al. 1982). Bees mostly forage
in the forenoon and
there is limited activity till early afternoon. Therefore evening or late in the
afternoon is
appropriate time for chemical control operations.
Sesame. It
is
automatic self pollinated but natural cross pollination also occurs.
Honeybees
are very active on the flowers of sesame. The crop at flowering stage
suffers
from the attack of aphids brown
leafhopper sucking
bugs whiteflies and
caterpillars. Chemical
application at blossoming would cause hazards to bees also.
Seed crops.
Like
lucern and clovers these are rich bee forages. Under semi arid tropics
the
legume flowers usually close in the afternoon and it allows time for
safe
application of pesticides afterwards against caterpillar pests.
Pulses.
Like soybean cajanus
and others are self pollinated crops
but yield increases by bee pollination have been observed. Considerable
mortality of honeybees from insecticide poisoning is reported in some
countries
but lack of knowledge in India is due to non monitoring of hazards.
Cucurbits.
These
require the control of fruit flies
pumpkin beetle and aphids when in flowering. Cover sprays
of
insecticides are given against these pests. Honeybees visit the flowers
of melon
and other cucurbits. Steps to minimize bee kill from these sprays are
required.
Tobacco. In
this
case self pollination is normal but honeybees and other insects visit
the
flowers for nectar effecting
some cross
pollination. Aphids whiteflies thrips and caterpillars
are the pests which
may warrant insecticidal application during flowering which
consequently would
lead to bee hazards. Flowering period in coffee is short and
insecticidal
applications can be avoided during coffee flowering. Coffee may be
attacked by
bugs leaf miner and
thrips during
flowering. In case of outbreak during flowering
the crop should be treated when bees are not active and
less persistent
insecticides be used.
Pome and
stone
fruits. Apple peach plum
apricot and almond are attacked by caterpillars at
blooming time.
Insecticidal use has been suggested by economic entomologists against
blossom
thrips though
economic losses by thrips
have not been ascertained. The recommendations are made in ignorance of
insecticidal bee hazards. Therefore
caution is important so that the huge benefits from bee
pollination are
not reduced.
Other fruit
crops. Insecticides can be applied for pest control at flowering time
in
citrus litchi olive
grapes coconut
and cocoa. Care
should be taken because they are also visited by bees for floral
rewards.
Symptoms and Effects of Pesticidal Poisoning
Bees come
in
contact with pesticidal deposits while foraging on treated crops or
weeds where
the chemicals are deposited by drifting. The nectar and pollen can also
be
contaminated with pesticides and there can be stomach toxicity to bees
and also
to brood when fed on contaminated pollen. Some pesticides may even
cause
hazards by fumigant action. After gaining entry into body different pesticides have
different modes of
action. Atkins has given the detail of specific symptoms caused by
poisoning of
different groups of pesticides but general symptoms of pesticide
poisoning are
Appearance
of large number of
dead bees in front of the hive. Bees also die in the field and in
between the
field and the hive.
Bees
become paralytic lose
the power of orientation legs
wings and digestive tract stop functioning and poisoned
bees show unco
ordinated movements.
Abdomen
becomes distended.
Bees
are irritated and become
aggressive they
sting heavily and guard
bees are confused.
Regurgitation
of gut contents can
occur.
Brood
chilling can occur due to
reduced adult bee population.
Contaminated
pollen can be
collected by bees and stored as bee bread. This pollen fed to brood
results
into dead brood inside the colonies
young emerging bees are also killed.
Sometimes
the queen is also
affected. Queen may stop laying eggs or lays eggs in irregular pattern there may be brood in only
some of the cells
of the brood area as
in case of colonies
suffering from foul brood disease. In colonies
which survive queen
may be
superseded. Sometimes queenlessness may develop.
Longevity
of adult bees is
reduced due to sub lethal doses of pesticides.
Pesticides and their Relative Toxicity to Bees
Some
remarkable
studies have been conducted on relative toxicity of pesticides to Apis
mellifera and Atkins has categorized the pesticides on the basis of
their
relative toxicity. Exhaustive reviews and summary of the results of
their
laboratory and field studies with large number of pesticides are very
illuminating and serve as an important reference. As per their
categorization
the pesticides in use in India are listed in tables ahead. The list is
very
important in choosing the appropriate pesticide
particularly when alternate choices for a pest control are
available.
Some
insecticides have been screened in laboratory in India for their
toxicity to
bees. First study in this field was carried out by Cherian and
Mahadevan with
DDT and Gammexane against Apis cerana indica. Hameed allowed the worker
bees of
Apis mellifera to forage on cut flowers of mustard to which systemic
and
contact insecticides had been sprayed. On the basis of safety index
Formothion Vamidothion Dimethoate and Phosalone
were considered to
be relatively safer to bees. Contact toxicity to Apis cerana of
insecticide
applied as sprays was compared with Menazon by Kapil. Taking the LC50
for
Menazon as 100 the
comparative values
for Endosulphan Eormothion Methyl demeton Endrin
Dieldrin Malathion Parathion
Phosphamidon Lindane Phorate and Mevinphos were
1.17 1.18
14.00 15.70 17.79
22.25. 26.01 28.45 36.99
57.96 and 64.24 respectively. Singh tested 15 insecticides
and reported
that Menazon and Endosulphan were least toxic and were considered
nontoxic to
Apis cerana at their recommended doses. According to Thakur et al.. (1981)
Fenitrothion and Fenthion were highly toxic as compared to
Endosulphan
and Trichlorfon and Hinosan were moderately toxic as determined by
residue film
method. Comparative toxicity of organophosphates
chlorinated hydrocarbons and carbamates was
worked out by Bai Attri also assessed the contact and oral toxicities
of some
insecticides. Toxicity of several organophosphates to Apis cerana was
determined
in the laboratory using topical application method. Determination of
the
kinetic parameters of the reactions by the authors showed that
differences in
anticholinestrase activity were due mainly to differences in affinity
rather
than to different chemical structure of the compounds.
Cholinestrase
inhibition by insecticides in Indian honeybee was studied by Dale Bai
reported
that signs of poisoning in Apis cerana indica were first observable
when
acetylcholinestrase inhibition exceeded 35% and death occurred at 96%
or more
inhibition.
Reddy
reported
the inhibition of magnesium activated adenosine triphosphate as the
criterion
to determine the degree of organochlorine insecticide poisoning to Apis
cerana
indica. Digestive amylase and protease of Apis cerana indica were
inhibited to
the same level by the insecticide poisoning from different groups of
insecticides. Studies on the level of ions of amino acids in the
haemolymph of
worker bees of Apis cerana indica treated topically showed pronounced
stimulatory
effect with organophosphates a
relatively strong inhibitory action with chlorinated hydrocarbons and
an
intermediary effect with carbamate pesticides.
Bee Pasturage
Honeybees have closed links
with the flora because
adults and young ones live solely on nectar and pollens. Usefulness of
a flora
depends upon the quantity of food and energy harvested and the energy
requirement of bees. Nectar is secreted by nectaries and is usually a
reward
for the visitors bringing about pollination. In general
the quantity of nectar secreted is directly
related to the pollination requirements of the crop. Honey is made by
bees from
the nectar collected from floral and extrafloral nectaries. Sometimes
honeydew
is also an important source in certain localities
but the well being of bees is greatly
dependant on the value of the flora. For the selection of the apiary
site it is
essential to know the plants which
provide nectar or pollen to bees. Data on different aspects can be
gathered for
couple of years to establish the potentials of an area for beekeeping.
Scale
colony provides useful information. Weight of the scale colony is
regularly
recorded and the changes in weight are correlated with the flowering
plants which are
being visited by
bees and also the weather conditions.
Flowers present nectar and pollen during specific time of the day therefore
bee activity on the flora should be carefully recorded.
Recording the
bee activity at different day hours should give useful information.
Melissopalynological studies are essential to ensure as to which plants
are
availed by bees. Pollen analysis of honey samples taken at different
time of
the year and comparing with reference slides give the exact information
about
the floral sources for bees in vicinity.
Bee flora
should
be studied from different angles to find out the value of bee forage
though the
total nectar production per flower is important. Some flowers secrete
nectar
only for one day and few others for short time and still there are
flowers like
Schefflera wallichiana which
continue
nectar secretion for about a fortnight. The time for which nectar plant
blossoms are another important point determining the value of flora. In
some
forages the duration between the start and end of flowering is very
short whereas in
others like Brassica spp. there is
a succession of flowering and it lasts for about a month. Trees present
larger
number of flowers as compared to bushes
shrubs and crop plants unless the latter are growing in
large continuous
areas. Concentration of nectar sugar gives an objective measure. Total
sugars
per flower per day is the sugar value which is normally estimated for
such
studies. Sugar value is the number of mg of sugar secreted by one
flower over a
period of 24 hr. However total
quantity
of nectar produced and the amount available to
or harvested by bees give valuable information.
Nectar sugar Concentration
Nectar
concentration in most bee forages varies between 20 50% but may be as
low as 6%
in Bombax ceiba L. to 15% in pear and as high as 79% in silver oak
(Grevillea
robusta). Nectar and sugar concentration (%) has been worked out for
some flora
in India. For example Grevillea
robusta
had 79% sugars in the nectar 23 plants including Tecoma grandiflora had
14% peach and pear
70% Brassica juncea
52% Barberis 48%
some citrus spp. 40 44%
Sapindus
detergens 40% Plectranthus
38% Cidrella cerata
36% Carvia callosa 35%
Thelepaepale ixiocephala 35 64% Impatiens balsamina 16 25% Nephelium
litchi 61
78% Plectranthus 26
54% Woodfordia
floribunda 10 12% Brassica campestris var. toria 38.5 53.5% and onion
59 75.5%
Gupta found that there were considerable differences in the amount of
nectar
sugar production in the flowers of different cultivars of cauliflower
and in
the attraction of bees to them. Average nectar sugar contents varied
from 0.035
to 0.150 mg/flower/24 hr. On the basis of such studies honey potentials
per
unit area are estimated for cultivated crop/fruit plants. For wild
flora the
density per unit area is estimated by sampling and honey potentials of
the
flora in the area are worked out. Honey potentials of forage are only
estimates
but it serves as a useful guide. Honey potentials of forage are liable
to
change. This is happening fast in developing agriculture in India where
changes
in land use patterns have been very frequent. Under extensive
agriculture vast
wastelands are cleared for cultivation and this reduced the wild flora.
Land
may be put to urbanization or industrialization causing reduction in
cultivated
and wild bee flora. There are introductions and extension of
cultivation of new
crops like sunflower safflower
and other
oilseed crops and this has substantially changed the scenario with
regard to
beekeeping potentials. There are many agricultural practices which affect the bee
flora. Mechanized
agriculture reduces the weed plants
which may be serving as bee forage. The use of weedicides
is another
agricultural practice which
reduced the
weed forage for bees.
The nectar
yielding plants contributing to nectar/honey flow are specific to
different
areas and they have definite micro regional habitats. Even in rich
floral areas
continuous succession of nectar yielding plants throughout the year is
lacking.
In some localities there is single surplus honey flow and in good areas
2
surplus flows may be available. In north western hills of Himachal
Pradesh and
Jammu and Kashmir the
lower and mid
hills present spring early
summer flow
and in areas like Kashmir and parts of Himachal Pradesh
there is rich flow from Plectranthus in
autumn. Bees face protracted dearth period in winters and only
subsistence
flora is available in rainy season but heavy downpours are hazardous to
bees.
In north Indian and Gangetic plains
major flora of Brassica is available from September
through early
February. This build up and surplus flow is followed by spring and
summer
surplus honey flow from Eucalyptus
Dalbergia sissoo and other trees and berseem is availed by
bees till
May. Hard summers are also no flora availability period but some weeds
and
crops present subsistence forage in rainy season. In Western Ghats and
South
India there is
medium to major flora
available from October to May and important sources being jamun hirda
carvi soapnut
rubber plant Schefflera
etc. but June to September is a dearth period. Therefore for beekeeping sub tropics
may have an
inactive period of 1 or 2 months. In tropics it is dry season or
excessive
rainfall and in hills it is winter
which
are troublesome to bees. Surplus flow season may vary from 1 or 2 and
rarely 3
in a year.
Beekeeper to maximize his honey crop should have a thorough
knowledge of the
floral cycle onset
of major honey flow
and dearth period. The bee colonies should be managed in a way so as to
have
maximum foraging strength to avail major flow and economical or minimum
strength in dearth period.
Nectar Composition
Nectar is a
solution and total solids in nectar are mostly sugars. There are only
few
exceptions where lipids are present in nectar. Chromatographic studies
help to
know the sugars in nectar. Monosaccharides
glucose fructose
and
disaccharide sucrose are the common sugars in
nectar. In general flowers
with tubular corolla secrete sucrose
dominant nectar. In open flowers such
as
Brassica only
glucose fructose
and sucrose are present. Bee s
preference to nectar is also governed by the sugar balance and the
nectars with
equal amount of glucose fructose
and
sucrose are preferred by bees. Minute amounts of other substances such
as amino
acids minerals essential oils organic acids and other
components usually
comprise less than 0.03% of total dry weight. Essential oils impart
characteristic aroma to nectar and honey and bees are attracted by this
aroma
to flower nectar. Solid particles in the form of pollen grains yeast cells
fungal spores and bacteria can be found in small amounts.
Attempts
have
been made by Indian scientists to gather information on the nectar
composition
of bee flora. Sucrose fructose
and
glucose (28 1 1) make up to 60% of the total solids of Thunbergia
grandiflora
nectar. They also detected small amounts of aspartic acid alanine
glycine serine
and valine by
paper chromatography. Moringa pterigosperma Gaertn
nectar contained 0.90% of reducing and 11.81%
of non reducing sugars. Wakhle analysed nectars from 4 species nectar of Carvia callosa
contained
fructose glucose maltose
raffinose and an unidentified sugar
nectar of Thelepaepale ixiocephala had only fructose glucose and sucrose whereas nectars of
Schefflera roxburghii and
Grevillia robusta had only fructose and glucose. Only these 2 sugars
were
observed by Mishra in Woodfordia floribunda nectar. Soapnut (Sapindus
emerginatus) nectar had 85.5% sucrose and 7.25% each glucose and
fructose.
Sihag analysed the nectars of 44 plants visited by Apis florea and Apis
dorsata.
Nectar of Tecoma stans and all 11 cruciferous plants
Althea rosea
Prunus persica P.
domestica and
Petunia alba contained glucose dominated sugars and sucrose and
fructose were
in very small fractions. Bahadur analysed nectar of 103 plants from 100
species
and revealed that 54 plants had 3 sugars
viz. sucrose
(S) glucose (G) and
fructose (F). In addition to
these 7 plants had
4 or more sugars 6
having S+G+F+1 unknown sugar one
having S+G+F+2 unknown sugars. Forty
plants had 2 sugars (29 S+G 3
S+F 8 G+F) and 2
had only one each (1 G 1
S). In the nectar of these plants
24 had dominant sugar as sucrose
7 had S+G
2 had G and one had G+F and there was no plants having
either S+F or F
dominant sugar. Six plants had balanced S+G+F sugars
3 plants had S+G and there was no plants
having G+F balanced sugars. In 90 plants amino acid was present whereas in 15 plants the amount was double than
the remaining
ones.
Factors Affecting Nectar Secretion
Honey flow
from
the same plant is not the same under varying weather
soil and vegetation habitat conditions. The
nectar secretion in a plant is the function of specific features of the
forage
and other external factors. Factors related to a plant species are age
of the
flowers and the cultivar or varieties. In Woodfordia floribunda Salisb the flowers continued to
secrete nectar for 3
days it was maximum
on second day and
minimum on first day of flower opening. The differences in nectar
secretion
have also been found in many plant species and differences with age of
the
flowers and cultivars have been reported in peach and cauliflower in
India.
Nectar secretion in flowers after opening is expected to be correlated
with the
degree of receptiblity of the stigma. Fertilization in flowers is also
known to
activate a feed back mechanism to switch off nectar secretion. After
certain
period of flower opening there is reduction in amount of nectar sugars.
This
happens because of reabsorption of nectar. Reabsorption only of nectar
sugars
takes place and not of water. Therefore
the reabsorption at the end of nectar secretion leads to
lowered nectar
sugar concentration. The total amount of nectar secretion over a period
by a
flower is more when it is periodically removed than in case of its non
removal
by insects. Besides these growth
regulators have also been found to affect nectar volume and nectar
sugars. The
effect of GA3 was more pronounced in mustard and cauliflower than with
other
growth regulators.
Sunlight
and
temperature. Sunlight has a direct bearing on photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis
produces carbohydrates which
are
secreted in nectar. Effect of sunlight and consequently of
photosynthesis may
not be immediate because stored carbohydrates do make good but ultimate
effect
is there. Temperature has direct relationship with nectar secretion.
For every
plant species there is a specific threshold temperature at which the
nectar
secretion is started and it increases when the temperature is optimum.
This is
the range of temperature at which enzymes responsible for nectar
secretion are
activated. On the other hand very high air temperature may result into
water
stress in plants and the waste stress causes more water loss than the
uptake.
The imbalance results into lowered nectar secretion through reduced
sugar transport
in the conducting tissues.
Relative
humidity. Nectar is hygroscopic in nature and for this reason
atmospheric
humidity is inversely linked to nectar sugar concentration. After
secretion
nectar sugar concentration changes and attains equilibrium with the
moisture in
the air. Water is always lost from nectar unless the relative humidity
is near
100%. High relative humidity causing reduction in sugar concentration
can
affect the attractiveness of the source to bees. Conversely higher
sugar
concentration at lower relative humidity can affect the nectar column
in the
tubular flowers and bees may be unable to reach and imbibe the nectar.
Water
loss in the plant is also a function of relative humidity as also of
air
temperature.
Soil.
Optimum
soil moisture is essential for good plant growth. With soil water as a
limiting
factor the number of flowers is reduced and nectar secretion is also
adversely
affected. Balanced nutrient level in soil which supports good plant
growth also
favours nectar production. Phosphorus and potassium increase nectar
production
but high level of phosphorus reduces it. A balance between the 2
elements
should be beneficial. Excessive application of nitrogen causes abnormal
vegetative growth and comparatively lesser number of flowers are
produced. Some
of the bee forages have been briefly discussed in this chapter.
Bee Flora of India
Avenue Amenity
and Timber Tree
Eucalyptus
spp.
(Fam. Myrtaceae).
These are evergreen
trees and are indigenous to Australia. In Australia most species are
bushes and
shrubs but fortunately in India Eucalyptus spp. attain gigantic size.
Different
species and even varieties flower during different parts of the year
but main
bloom is available in spring. Eucalyptus plantations have expanded very
fast on
road sides canals even waste lands and thus
presenting vast
potentials to bees. Honey is light amber coloured and granulation is
fairly
quick.
Hirad
(Terminialia chebula Retz Fam. Combretaceae). Hirad is
distributed in the
Western Ghats and in submountainous regions. The fruits have medicinal
value
and also a source of dyes and tannins. It is a major flora in
beekeeping areas
of Maharashtra. It flowers in April to June. Hirad honey is composed of
17%
water 35% glucose 40 41% fructose sucrose
maltose melezitose ash and it also contains
calcium phosphorus
iron magnesium sodium
potassium and silicon. Tartaric
citric malic succinic acids are also
present. Honey is
light yellow coloured granulation
is
slow and has characteristic pungent aroma and tastes akin to fruit
tannins.
Terminalia arjuna (Rob.) Wight and Arn. has been widely planted in
forests and
as avenue plantation. It is also a nectar and pollen source but details
of
value as bee forage have not been worked out. T. bellerica (Gaertn.)
Roxb. has
also both nectar and pollen forage but no data on nectar and honey is
available.
Jamun
(Syzygium
cumini Skeels Fam. Myrtaceae). Jamun is
widely planted avenue
cum fruit tree and naturalized as forests in many parts of India. It is
a
predominant flora of Western Ghats. It is reported to be a major flora
in
Bihar Maharashtra Punjab
Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Its flowers are dirty white
and bloom in
April May. The honey flow extends over a period of 2 or 3 weeks. Nectar
sugar
concentration is very high up to 72% but may be as low as 9%. Jamun is
also a
pollen source. Chemical composition of honey has been given by
Narayana.
Fructose is high (43.30%) and glucose is 32.26%
sucrose maltose reffinose and melezitose
are present in jamun
honey. Protein (0.656%) dextrin
(1.55%) ash
(0.182%) and riboflavin ascorbic
acid
thiamine and niacin are also present in honey. It is light
reddish brown
and has characteristic taste of jamun fruit. The honey does not
granulate for
years.
Karanj
(Pongamia
pinnata (L. Pierre) Fam. Leguminosae). Karanj grows
well in humid
tropical area. P. glabra is grown as avenue and shade tree in drier
climate.
Leaves are used as fodder. It blooms in April May and both nectar and
pollen
are availed from karanj. Data on nectar production
honey characteristics and honey potentials
are not available but it is considered to be good flora by the
beekeepers.
Moulsari
(Mimusops elegni L. Fam.
Sapotaceae). Moulsari is evergreen tree with whitish
flowers. It has
good nectar flow in May June in Bihar and also in Uttar Pradesh. Bees
also
collect pollen from this flora. No information on nectar and honey from
moulsari is available.
Phalsa
(Grewia
asiatica L. Fam. Tiliaceae). Phalsa shrub
is grown for its
fruits. It blooms from April to August and yields nectar to bees. The
extent of
its cultivation is less. G. oppositifolia Roxb. is a medium sized tree
which is
planted for lopping its foliage for fodder
for its best fibre for ropes and for timber. It blooms in
April May and
is a nectar source to bees. These species of Grewia are only minor
sources.
Rubber
(Hevea
brasiliensis Muell. Arg. Fam. Euphorbiaceae). Rubber
plant is deciduous
tree with male and female flowers on the same inflorescence. Nectar is
available to bees only from the extra floral nectaries at the base of
young
buds. The nectar flow is there for about 2 weeks when leaves are young.
Rubber
is a major flora in Kerala where large plantations are grown. Honey
potential
is estimated to be 3 kg per tree. Rubber honey is clear straw coloured.
Schefflera
wallichina Harms. (Fam. Araliaceae).
It
grows as a strangler or small tree in forests or cardamom estates of
Coorg area
of Karnataka. Schefflera blooms in April June and is a rich nectar
source. Most
honey in Coorg is obtained from this source. Pollen availability to
bees is
very low.
Shisham
(Dalbergia sissoo DC. Fam. Leguminosae). Shisham s
habitat is very
varied from lower
hills to dry plains normally
planted on banks of canals or
roadside as shade tree. This is a source of valuable timber especially
for
furniture. Pale yellowish flowers are put forth in April. Corolla is
tubular
but narrow tube has nectar well up to the reach of bees. Wind blows
flower from
branches and nectar availability is adversely affected. It is a major
nectar
source for bees in many states especially Himachal Pradesh. Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Shisham honey is
dark amber with moisture 18.75% glucose
34.6% fructose 39.1% sucrose 1.04% and ash
0.18%. Honey flavour is
strong and not attractive.
Silver oak
(Grevillea robusta A. Cunn. ex R. Br
Fam. Proteaceae).
Silver oak is
planted in coffee plantations and also as shade and avenue tree. It
profusely
flowers and is an important nectar source and nectar secretion is
abundant with
17 79% nectar concentration. Honey is reddish black with prominent
flavour and
it granulates rapidly.
Soapnut
(Sapindus spp. Fam. Spindanceae). Soapnut is
an avenue and forest
tree fruits are
used as substitute to
soap. S. emerginatus Vahl is a species found in Andhra Pradesh Karnataka
Orissa and Tamil Nadu. The species flowers in October
December. It gives
20 25% of total honey yield in some parts of Andhra Pradesh. S.
emerginatus
nectar has 85.5% sucrose and 7.25% glucose and fructose.
Tamarind
(Tamarindus indica L. Fam. Leguminosae). Tamarind is
a large evergeen
shade tree cultivated in many parts of India for pods which are used in
curries. The tree has many other uses like fuel
timber etc.
It blooms in April
July and is a good nectar and minor pollen source in South India. Honey
is rich
golden and has sour flavour.
Toon (Toona
ciliata M. Roem. Fam. Meliaceae). Toon grows as
timber and avenue
tree in lower hills and plains of northern India especially in moist
soil. It
is also lopped for fodder but is not to the liking of cattle. Toon is a
major
nectar source in Himachal Pradesh
Kashmir Punjab
and Uttar Pradesh.
It is a minor source of pollen. Large number of trees has recently been
cut and
floral source has declined. Nectar sugar concentration varies from 26
to 72% in
freshly opened to 48 hr old flowers. Average nectar sugar value is 2.38
mg/flower/day and nectar is secreted for 4 days. Honey is light amber
in colour
with pronounced flavour. Normally its honey is mixed with Dalbergia
sissoo
honey and is obtained in May.
Whayati
(Thelepeaple ixiocephala (Benth.) Bremk
Fam. Acanthaceae).
Whayati is a
tree of moist forests of Western Ghats of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Whayati
flowers after every 8 years. It blooms in November January and is a
major
nectar source. Sugar concentration of nectar is 35 46%. Honey contains
38%
glucose and 39% fructose sucrose maltose
raffinose and melezitose are present. Sodium potassium
calcium magnesium iron
phosphorus and silicon are contained in whayati honey. It
is light
yellow and granules rapidly but granulation is uniform.
There are
many
other avenue and forest trees which are good source of nectar and
pollen but
their number is small and at best serve as subsistence sources. These
trees are
bottle brush (Callistemon lanceolatus DC.)
pride of India (Lagerstroemia indica L.)
drum stick (Moringa oleifera Lam.)
Indian laburnum (Cassia spp.)
puna (Ehretia acuminata B.)
siris
(Albizzia spp.) willows
(Salyx spp.) and
chestnuts (Aesculus sp. Castanea
sp.)
Fruits
Banana
(Musa
spp. Fam. Musaceae). Perennial herb stem formed by leaf
petioles. Flowers are
large and monoecious. Musa spp. flowers throughout the year and is a
medium to
good source of nectar which has 25 30% sugar concentration. Banana
flowers are
also visited by bees for pollen which is in abundance. Banana
plantations are
common in many states of India.
Cashew
(Anacardium occidentale L. Fam. Anacardiaceae). Cashew is
cultivated in South
India. It is an evergreen tree flowers
pink small and
fragrant. Devadason has
advocated migratory beekeeping to avail cashew flow. It is also a
pollen
source value of the
flora and honey
characteristics are not known.
Citrus spp.
(Fam. Rutaceae).
These are C.
aurantifolia (Christm) Swingle C.
grandis (L.) Osbeck C.
limon (L.)
Burm. C. paradisi
Macfad. C.
reticulata Blanco and C. sinensis (L.)
Osb. These citrus species flower during February March. Nectar
production and
nectar sugar concentration is medium. Citrus spp. also serve as pollen
source.
Citrus honey has delicate flavour. In India Citrus mostly serves as a
build up
flora and surplus is not extracted anywhere
though large areas are under citrus and it is widely
distributed.
Coconut
(Cocos
nucifera L. Fam. Palmae). It is grown in
coastal regions.
Flowers are small monoecious both male and female
flowers have nectaries.
It blooms in May June and bees collect abundant pollen from staminate
flowers
in spathes.
Jujube
(Ziziphus
mauritiana Lam. Fam. Rhamnaceae). Indian jujube
is cultivated in
tropical parts of India advantageously
below 600 M.S.L. It tolerates severe heat and is drought resistant. It
flowers
during July to October and flowering is very protracted. The flora
gives
surplus honey when the colonies are strong but bees get nectar source
when
there is no other flora. Some pollen is also availed and therefore it is very useful forage
for bees. The jujube
honey is yellow brown with very sweet flavour.
Litchi
(Litchi
chinensis Sonner Fam. Sapindaceae). Litchi has
become very popular
in sub mountainous regions for expensive fruits. It blooms in March and
is a
rich source of nectar to bees. Sugar concentration of nectar is high.
Juice
from damaged fruits is also availed by bees. Litchi honey is light
golden
coloured with very pleasing aroma.
Pome
and stone fruits. Apple pear
plum peach apricot
cherry almond
and their closely
allied wild species are included in this category. They flower from
February to
April and bees gather both nectar and pollen. These fruit trees have
local
importance and have good build up sources before surplus honey flow
season.
Pear nectar is very low in sugar concentration. Therefore it is normally avoided in
favour of other
competing flora. Surplus honey is not gathered from these cultivated
fruit
trees. But wild cherry Prunus
puddum
Roxb. flowers in October to November when no other flora is available
in mid
and lower hills of Himachal Pradesh. On an average a flower secretes
35ml
nectar for 4 days with 3.47 mg nectar sugar per flower. Nectar sugar
concentration varies from 12 to 18%. Chromatographic separation
revealed
glucose fructose sucrose and one
unidentified sugar in the
ratio of 39.6 40.7 12.3 and 7.5.
Queen Rearing and
Artificial Queen Bee Insemination
Drones which are reared from the
unfertilized
eggs are haploid
and carry the genomes
of their mother. The males and queen contribute to the heredity of the
offspring workers. Under natural conditions a beekeeper cannot exercise
control
on parentage and drones from the vicinity can take part in fertilizing
a queen.
But good queens can be reared from better performing colonies so that
the
hereditary characters contributed by the mother can be improved to a
greater
extent. In an apiary many queens may be required for requeening and
colony
divisions. Therefore mass
queen rearing
is discussed here.
Selection of Mother Stock
Requeening
of
some or all the colonies in an apiary becomes a feature of annual
management.
With some additional effort an element of multiplying a better stock
can be
introduced. All the colonies in an apiary are not equally superior
performers.
Beekeeper is concerned with higher honey production but honey
production is
directly correlated with amount of brood rearing as also the queen s
egg laying
capacity industriousness
of workers swarming
and absconding tendency frugal
behaviour and disease resistance.
Apiary records for these attributes are essential to select the best
colonies
for queen rearing. In the absence of records for all these attributes only the honey yield
records of colonies can
serve an important criterion for selecting colonies for mass queen
rearing.
Superior colonies can also be induced to rear drones. Though the mating
with
these drones cannot be assured yet the chances can be increased by
making these
colonies to rear more drones.
Biological Basis of Queen Rearing
Queen bee
lays
fertilized as well as unfertilized eggs. Both the workers and the queen
develop
from fertilized eggs. A larva from a fertilized egg can be reared into
a worker
or a queen. There seems to be no or very little genetic bias in caste
determination. Worker and queen larvae are fed on glandular food for
the first
2 or 3 days and there is hardly much difference in the quality of food
of the 2
castes. Moreover supply of food is more than the requirement. At about
the age
of three days there
is a shift in food
to worker larva whereas
queen larva
continues to get the nutritious glandular secretion food. Honey and
pollen is
mixed in the food of worker larva and also the feeding is progressive
or in
other words the developing larva is starved to some extent.
Larvae from
fertilized egg is plastic for caste determination up to the age of 72
hr but
the queens reared from larvae older than 72 hr may develop into
intercastes.
Diet is the major caste determining factor. Though the better food is
responsible for higher JH titre in queen larvae which consequently
affects the
development of reproductive organs. Feeding of stored royal jelly is
also not a
perfect food for queen rearing which indicates that the royal jelly has
some
labile fraction.
A colony
rears
queens only when
certain favourable
conditions are available. The bee colony must be crowded so that the
bees feel
the necessity of rearing queens under swarming impulse. This condition
can be
altered in case of queenlessness where the influence of queen or queen
cell
building and queen rearing is removed. For feeding queen larvae large
number of
young nurse bees are required because worker bees of the age of 6 to
12/13 days
have well developed and active food glands. Food glands of worker bees
remain
actively secretory if they get a continuous supply of pollen. Therefore continuous income of
pollen and nectar also
creates favourable conditions for queen rearing. The queen rearing is
possible
if these prerequisites are naturally available or are artificially
created by
manipulations.
Methods of Queen Rearing
Queen
rearing is
inhibited by pheromone secreted by the mandibular glands of the queen
and
spread over the queen s body to be licked by the workers. Certain level
of this
pheromone would be required to suppress the queen rearing urge. The
level of
the queen pheromone available to the workers may be reduced when the
colony
population is very high. Such overcrowded and populous colonies rear
queen
cells under swarming instinct. The reduced amount of queen pheromone is
available to the workers in a colony when the queen is old and is
exhausting.
The bees feel the necessity of superseding the old
failing queen and queen cells are raised on
the face of the comb but are fewer in number. The queen can be reared
from the
eggs or the larvae. Failing queen
herself lays eggs in the supersedual cells raised by the
workers. In
case of sudden loss of queen the
queen
cells are built under emergency impulse and these queens are reared
from worker
cells with larvae of certain age. Therefore
they are built on the face of the comb and the queens vary
in
development stages.
Queen
rearing is
triggered off when any of the above 3 conditions are available or
artificially
created. When few queens are required
a
beekeeper can remove the queen from a colony and few emergency queens
are
raised by the bees. Modified swarm box method used for swarm control
can be
profitably used without removing the queen. As discussed under Damree
method of
swarm prevention the
queen with a brood
comb honey and
pollen comb and remaining
frames with empty combs or comb foundation is restricted to the lower
chamber.
All other frames with sealed and unsealed brood are kept in upper
chamber with
a queen excluder in between the two. The second super if already there
can be
placed in between the 2 chambers. Few queen cells are built above the
queen
excluder and the sealed queen cells can be carefully removed from the
base and
the emerging queens can be used.
Alley
developed
a queen rearing method where the comb with young larvae is cut into
small
strips. Larvae in alternate cells are destroyed so that enough space is
available for raising queen cells. The cells of desired larvae are
shaved off
and the pieces of comb are attached to the bar on comb so that the
desired
larvae hang with their openings facing downwards.
In Miller
method
2 or 3 in wide strips of foundation with V shaped top are attached to
the top
bar of a frame. This prepared frame with many strips with space in
between is
given in the brood nest. Comb is built on these foundation strips and
queen
lays eggs. When this is achieved the cells of desired larvae are shaved
off and
the frame is transferred to cell builder colony prepared few hours
earlier. The
cell builder is a queenless colony with sufficient young nurse bees.
Combs with
young brood should preferably be removed with the queen so that the
queens are
reared only from the brood in prepared frame from breeder colony.
Doolittle
or
grafting method is most commonly used for mass queen rearing. This
method
requires the grafting of young larvae in queen cell cups. The cups can
be
plastic or made from pure bees wax with inside diameter of 8 12 mm for
Apis
mellifera and 6 9 mm for Apis cerana indica. Single forming stick can
be used
for preparing queen cups when only few queens are to be raised. For
preparing
large number of cups the
single forming
stick is not practicable and multiple forming sticks are useful. The
multiple
forming stick is a bar made by attaching 10 15 cell forming sticks of
same
length to a thick strip of wood with a spacing of about 2.5 cm from
centre to
centre. Wax is melted in a tray on thermostatically controlled hot
plate or in
a water jacketed tray. The wax for attaching the cups to the bars is
melted
just above the melting point. The cell bar is laid over the pan of wax
for
attaching the cell cups to bars. Wax is put over the upper surface and
the
sticks with the cell cups are rested on the bar and more wax is put
along the sides
and between the cups. The sticks are held in position till the wax has
cooled.
The forming sticks are then lifted off by putting an even pressure on
the ends
of the bar. A strong well
fed and
superior performing colony is selected for obtaining larvae for
grafting. The
bees are shaken off and the frame containing sufficient young larvae is
taken
to grafting room. A temperature of 24ºC and relative humidity of about
50% is
suitable. Grafting in the open may lead to drying and desiccation of
grafted larvae
if the temperature and humidity conditions are not closer to the
requirements
and the larvae get chilled if the atmospheric temperature is low. A
bright lamp
is placed so that light shines directly on the bottom of the comb cells
when
the comb containing the larvae to be transferred is little tilted
towards the
operator.
For
grafting a grafting
needle with flat
upward bent is used. For more extensive queen rearing
the use of automatic grafting needle is
advisable. Automatic grafting needle has retractable tongue which is
extended
about 1.5 mm before it is slipped side ways under the larva. This
grafting tool
also transfers sufficient royal jelly along with the larva and is very
successful in dry grafting. While placing the larva at the base of the
queen
cell cup the level
of the grafting
needle is released so that the tongue retracts back and larva is left
on the
base of the cup. Less experienced operator may need priming of cell
cups with
royal jelly to achieve better results.
Queen cell
builders. There are several methods for starting the queen cells but
swarm box
is a common method. Little before the newly grafted queen cells are
given the box is
stocked with 2.5 kg of bees taken
from active brood nest. Two pollen combs are given on either side of
the frame
with grafts. Combs with stored honey are given to the cell starter and
continuous supply of sugar syrup is useful. A useful modification of
this
queenless swarm box is profitably used. The
modified swarm box is
a cell
starter in which the bees are confined above the two storey colony for
24 36 hr
while cells are being started. Queen is confined beneath the excluder
in the
bottom body with sealed brood and empty combs and combs with young
brood are
moved to the upper body. A full depth body is prepared by putting 2
pollen
combs 2 or 3 combs
with honey stores and
division feeder full of sugar syrup. The frame with grafted cell cups
is placed
in between the 2 combs with pollen stores. All the young bees from
above the
queen excluder that
is second hive body is shaken off in the
prepared starter body
below which a 8 mesh hardware screen is fastened. The combs with young
brood
are returned to the second hive body. The bees cannot move from the
second to
the third hive body and bees are confined there for 24 36 hr by which
time the
cells are drawn and queen larvae are being reared. The screen is then
removed
and the hive is reduced to 2 body with an excluder in between the two.
The
cells are sealed and removed a day before emergence and put in
incubator for
emergence.
Cell
builder
colonies can be repeatedly used for starting the cells. The cells once
started
can be given to cell finisher colonies for completion. The cell
finisher colony
can be a strong 2 storey queen right colony. Queen is confined to the
lower
body by an excluder and cells are completed in the upper body.
Double
grafting
is also practised to ensure good quality queens. In double grafting the
first
grafts are removed after the cells have been started and second graft
is given
in the same cell cup. This is to avoid starving of the graft and the
second
graft will get food supply immediately.
Artificial Mating
Artificial
queen
bee insemination technique is now available and mating in the open can
be
bypassed. There are distinct advantages of the technique. By artificial
queen
bee insemination method the parentage can be controlled. The virgin
queens can
be inseminated with the semen from desired drones and hence the
technique is
the only method for bee breeding but for commercial beekeeping the
artificially
inseminated queens are less suitable. The queen insemination can be
possible at
any time of the day and even in bad weather. But the disadvantage is
that the
operator should be experienced to achieve high success. Success of
instrumental
insemination also depends on the simplicity and reliability of
insemination
apparatus. Mackensen and Roberts were the first to develop it in 1948 which met these
requirements. During the same
year. Laidlaw also developed artificial insemination equipment. Mackensen and Roberts apparatus is more widely
used because of its
simple construction and easy handling. Several improvements have since
been
made in this apparatus.
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