Presentation on Bee Keeping & Apiculture.

Presentation on Bee Keeping

1. BEE KEEPING (APICULTURE) BY-HAJA KAMIL MOHAIDEEN[B.sc.( Hons )Agriculture] (PG2345) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PLANT HEALTH MANAGEMENT -HYDERABAD

2. CONTENT Introduction History of Honey Bees Bee species Colony Organization and Division of Labour Methods of Bee Keeping Other Equipments Products of Apiculture Pest and Diseases in Bee Keeping . Conclusion. References.

3. Introduction Bee Keeping(Apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, by humans in order to collect products like honey,bee wax,royal jelly,propolis etc… Rearing of honey bees on a commercial scale is called apiculture. Systematic postion is : Kingdom- Animalia Phylum- Arthropoda Class- Insecta Order- Hymanoptera Family- Apidae Genus- Apis

4. History of Honey Bees Honey bees and their usefulness are known to man from pre-historic times. The modern bee keeping became possible after the discovery of movable frame hive in 1851 by L.L.Langstroth . In India Bee Keeping was introduced in 1882 in Bengal. Newton introduced beekeeping to south India in 1910. The first centre of Apiculture , ALL INDIA RESEARCH STATION was started at Lyallpur in Punjab in 1945. But still India is much behind than USA , Canada, Europe, Australia and Newzealand in beekeeping.

5. Bee species There are five important species of honey bees as follows. Apis dorsata : The rock bee . Apis cerana indica : The Indian bee . Apis florea : The little bee. Apis mellifera : The European or Italian bee. Melipona irridipennis : Dammerbee /stingless bee.

6. Apis dorsata :- Rock bees are biggest known bee in the world, usually found hilly and forest areas. They construct single comb in open place(About 6ft long and 3ft deep) They shift the place of the colony often. Rock bees are ferocious in nature and difficult to rear for commercial purpose. They produce about 18-36Kg of honey/comb and bee wax of about 1.2 kg/comb.

7. Apis cerana indica ( Indian bee) Indian bees are small sized honey bee which commonly reared for honey production. They construct multiple parallel combs inside cavities, in hollow trees. The bees are larger than Apis florae but smaller than Apis mellifera . They produce about 5Kg of honey/hive. They are native of India.

8. Apis florea - Little bee Little bees are small sized honey bee and constructs tiny single comb on twigs, bushes etc… They produce about 0.5Kg of honeyhive . They are not rearable as they frequently change their palce . The size of the bees is smallest among four Apis Sp.

9. Apis mellifera (Italian bee or European bee) It is an introduced bee species and has been domesticated. They also make multiple parallel combs in cavities in darkness. They are larger than Indian bees but smaller than Rock bees. They have been imported from European countries.(Italy ). They yield on an average 35Kg/hive/year .

10. ITALIAN BEE BOX

11. Stingless Bees Domestication in mud pot

12. Colony Organization and Division of Labour Every honey bee colony comprises of a single queen bee , a few hundred drones bee and several thousand worker honey bees,which varies in size. Queen bee is a fertile, functional female, Worker bee is a sterile female. T he drone bee is a male insect.

13. Queen Bee Only one queen will be present in the colony. She is the mother of the colony and lays 1500-2000 eggs/per day. Queen lay both fertilized(worker and also queen) and unfertilized eggs(drone). The longevity of the queen is 2-3 years. Queen releases queen substance( pheromones ) which helps in the colony organization and acts as worker attractants (which inhibits the ovary development in worker bees for new queen raising). Absence of queen pheromones for about 30 mins leads the colony to have new queen. The development of queen from egg to adults is about 16 days

14. Worker worker bees are sterile females. In 26 days worker bees will develop(Egg to Adult) and live for 45-80 days. All grubs will receive same food(Royal jelly) for 1 st two days. On 3 rd day the food will bee bread and honey for workers.

15. Drones The grub that hatch from the unfertilized eggs are feed with mixture of royal jelly and bee bread they develop into male insects. The development period is about 23days and lives about 60 days. The main function of drone bees is to mate with queen bee once which cost him his life during nuptial flight.

16. Methods of Bee Keeping There are two methods: Indigenous methods of Bee Keeping Modern methods of Bee Keeping

17. Indigenous methods of Bee Keeping Wall or Fixed Hives Movable Hive It is purely natural type of comb because bees prepare the hive themselves on the walls or trees. It comprises wooden boxes or earthen pitchers.

18. B. Modern methods of Apiculture The modern Bee hives were designed based on "Bee Space theory" by L.L.Langstroth in 1851. Bee space is the optimum distance to be left in between two adjacent comb surfaces in a bee hive which is essential for normal movement and functioning of bees. Types of hives: In general for A. mellifera we use Langstroth hive and for A. cerana , BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard) hive A and B type.

19. T ypical movable hive:

20. Other equipments: Comb foundation mill : Used to print natural cell size of desired comb foundation sheet.

21. Beeveil : Used for preventing bee stings on face, neck and hand.

22. Smoker : Used to calm down the bees while opening the hive.(For the bees, smoke is the alarm for fire: they think there is a forest fire and in preparation for leaving the hive, they suck the nectar stored in the cells and lose their instinct to sting).

23. Honey extractor: It is used for extraction of honey from comb and is function on the principle of centrifugal force.

24. Products of apiculture Honey : Bees produce honey from Nectar of plants through enzymatic activity. A raw honey colour varies from straw yellow to reddish brown or even black colour due to differences in pasturages. Uses : – Food : Honey is a nutritious food, rich in energy and vitamins. Medicines: It is used to prevents cold, cough and fever.

25. Beeswax: Bee wax is the natural wax secreted by the wax glands Bee wax is mainly lemon-yellow to orange in colour . Uses : – making of candles. – used in creams, lotions, lipstick. –unrefined wax is used for the formation of comb foundation sheet (wax foundation in apiaries)

26. Royal Jelly: The glandular secretions of young worker bees (4-10 days old), produced by the hypopharyngeal gland in the head. Uses : Used in treatment of diabetes, heart disease etc. It also aids in healing wounds and boosts immunity. May provide Anti-aging effects.

27. Bee Venom: Bee venom is a bitter colourless liquid, containing proteins, which causes local inflammation. Uses: Bee venom is given as a shot for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS).

28. Propolis It is a resinous mixture that honey bees produce by mixing of saliva and beeswax gathered from tree buds. Uses : • It is used by bees to seal unwanted spaces in hive. •Used to treat cough and throat irritation.

29. Pest and Diseases in Bee Keeping . Enemies of Honeybees: Wax Moth ( Galleria mellonella ): The caterpillars live in the silken tunnels made by the bees, feed on the propolis , pollen, and wax in the combs. They are severe in July-December Wasp : It waits near the entrance of the hive; catches bees as they come out. Management by reducing the width of alighting board of the hive. Destroying the wasp nets by burning them. Other enemies are wax beetle , birds , ants(oils can be applied in the stand to prevent attacks) etc.

30. Disease Of Honey Bees: Nosema disease: This disease is caused by a protozoan,  Nosema apis .  The  Nosema   infestation leads to dysentery. European Foul Brood Disease( Streptococcus pluton ) : This disease was first noticed in Mahabaleshwar and is now widespread. The disease is believed to have been introduced along with  Apis mellifera   imported from exotic sources.  Thai Sac Brood Virus: The causative agent is Thai Sac-brood virus. This virus attacks specifically  Apis cerena indica .

31. CONCLUSION Honey Bees play important role in pollination. Bee keeping enhances the yield of produce. Helps in development sustainable agriculture. It will give additional income to farmers. “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.” -Albert Einstein.

32. REFERENCES P G Fenemore , and Alka Prakash , Applied Entomology, Wiley Eastern Limited-1992, Page No-191. https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/farm_enterprises/fe_apiculture_home.html

33. THANK YOU