Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Negash D
Keywords : Honeybee; Brood rearing; Hygienic behavior; Absconding
In
Ethiopia, despite the potential of apicultural resource, production and
productivity are relatively low. This could be due to many factors like
management, environmental factors and races of honeybees. The aim of this study
was to evaluate productive potentiality trait of local honeybee colonies for
further colonies multiplication purpose. We obtained 20 selected strong
honeybee colonies from local beekeepers within traditional hives and
transferred into movable frame hive at Della site. All the transferred colonies were managed
properly to establish themselves and acquire uniform strength. These colonies
were evaluated for different parameters such as hygienic behavior, brood,
pollen and nectar area, swarming and absconding tendency at different
season. The result indicated that the
mean percent removal per colony varied from 86.57 (February) to 99.62 (August).
The highest brood rearing activity was observed in September and March that
covered up to 148.9±14.16-unit areas while the least was observed during
November (1.19 ±0.43) unit area. Maximum pollen and nectar area was found in
October (97.5±12.40) unit area and April (81.88±9.47) unit area. While minimum
pollen area (5.25±7.13) unit area and nectar (1.10±0.1) area was occupied in
November. In general, the study showed that A. m. scutellate honeybees are good
in hygienic behavior and brood rearing performance under optimum management practices
in the study area. On average 25% of absconding was observed at study site over
the last two years of the study period at the time of pollen and nectar
shortage mainly November and May Therefore, it is recommended to investigate
its detail behavioral aspects whether it is due to environmental or
genetically factor for future selection and improvement
For a successful beekeeper, beekeeping production depends on the selection of better performing honey bee colonies. Thus, selection aims and criteria are important tools in bee breeding program for a beekeeper in an apiary. Colonies in an apiary could be selected on the basis of some of the of most important measurable characteristics viz. spring colony development, gentleness and a tendency to remain calm on the comb, over wintering ability, honey production and resistance against diseases [1-6]. In honeybees as social insect, the colony is the level of selection, but most of the functions are performed by individual workers in the colony. The various production activities of colonies are greatly influenced by the population of adult bees that forms each bee colony. Colonies with larger populations usually perform better than those with smaller populations. Hence, strength of bees in a colony affects productivity because of high level of correlation between hive strength and honey production. There are some of the important factors which affect colony strength viz. egg laying rate, viability rate, brood care, brood development time and life span [7,8]. Although, the worker population of each honey bee colony also depends on food availability (nectar and pollen), oviposition capacity is very important for the generation of populous hives [9]. The effective defiance mechanism against disease is one of the most important functions of the worker bees in a colony. The individual bee’s immune system functions in a similar way to that of vertebrate animals, although the most effective defense mechanism that can lead to self-healing of the bee colony is the social behavior of removing as many pathogen agents or parasites as possible from the bee colony. This behavioral defense (entrance reduction and/or stinging) prevents parasites from penetrating the bee colonies, or their killing or removal. Disease resistance is known to correlate with the “hygienic behavior” of worker bees. This is the ability of workers to recognize dead brood and then remove infected or damaged brood. This characteristic has been found to be regulated by two pairs of recessive genes. The queen honey bee is an important member to a colony’s survival and functions. The longevity of a queen in a colony depends on its reproductive potential, and its permanence in the colony is related to its oviposition capacity, which affects colony viability and vitality. The queen is naturally replaced when the spermatozoa stored in its sperm theca are depleted. Egg-laying capability "is not the only measure of a queen's performance. Queens produce pheromones that greatly affect the activities, especially foraging activity of workers. Pheromone production diminishes in quality and quantity as queen age. In peak season, a queen laid about 2000 eggs. Brood solidness is also an important trait of a colony. Brooding pattern/solidness of a colony could be erratic or solid. Brood solidness of a comb is expressed by the percentage of empty worker cells in a brood patch of a given area. Whether, an acceptable level of empty cells in a comb should be usually less than 10%. In the light of above facts regarding the importance of selection of better performing colonies, those colonies having all these important traits will be selected in breeding yard for further breeding programmed for improvement of the stock. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate productive potentiality trait of local honeybee colonies for further colonies multiplication purpose.
Materials and Methods
Description of the Study
area and source of experimental colonies
This
study was conducted at Della apiary of Hadassah agricultural research center,
south nation, nationality, people regional state, Ethiopia from October 2019 to
November 2021 for two and half consecutive years. Twenty Model beekeepers were
purposively selected in Della zawiya worked. One strong colony per beekeepers
was selected by examined via internal and external observation for their
efficiency and purchased and collected in to study site. Finally, the collected
colony transferred to improved hive in experimental apiary site. Twenty
experimental colonies of honeybees used for this experiment to evaluate the
performance. The necessary seasonal colony management activities were undertaken
throughout the study period. Performance evaluations of the colonies were
studied through the following different parameters.
Data Collection
Evaluation of Hygienic
Hygienic
behavior was determined by a pin-killed brood assay in which the time was
recorded for colonies to detect and remove dead brood from a comb section
containing 100 cells (containing approximately 100 capped pupae) on one side of
the comb. This section of the comb was marked by removing one entire row of
cells surrounding the 100 cells. The number of empty cells within the section
was counted and recorded. Then every capped pupa within the section was
pin-killed and placed back in to the hive of the test colony. After 24 hrs. the
frame with the section will be taken out and then, the numbers of remaining
dead brood and removed was recorded. This test was repeat five times for all
the colonies to be tested for the hygienic behavior. Finally, the percent of
removal of dead brood will calculated as follows the formula used by Kebele,
2006.
R = K- E - C x 100
T-E
Where:
R = Percent removal of dead brood within 24 hrs.
K
= Number of dead broods removed within 24 hrs.
E
= Number of empty cells within the section insert before test
C
= Number of brood cell remained capped after 24 hrs.
T
= Total number of broods within the section of an insert
Evaluation of Brood Area, Pollen
and Nectar Storage
The
total brood area was measured during the study periods to determine the brood
population using 5cm x 5cm gridded wooden frame and placed over each side of
the brood combs. The total brood unit area was calculated from the area
occupied by the brood. In addition to this, the comb area occupied by pollen
and nectar stores was also measure in the same way.
Number of queen cells produced
(Swarming Behavior)
Swarming
tendency of the colonies was evaluated by counting the number of queen cells
constructed from all colonies under the study. These counted cells were removed
immediately to avoid double counting.
Evaluation of Absconding Tendency
Absconding
tendency was assessed by the ratio of colonies evacuating to the total number
of colonies used for the experiment provided that all the colonies are kept
under uniform environmental condition.
Data Management and Statistical
Analysis
Data collected were entered into Microsoft excel 2007 and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Normality of the data was check and they are transformed on Arcsine transformation when necessary. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) will run and Tukey’s student test (HSD) at 5% level of significance will used to make mean separation, whenever significant results will encounter
It may be concluded from the present study that the different traits of colonies were tested. This study revealed that A. m. scutellate honeybee colonies in Gedeon had generally different behavioral and productive performances. The colonies had remarkable hygienic performance in removing pin-killed capped brood that reached up to 99.62% cleaning of dead broods within 24 hrs. in colonies. This high level of hygienic performance could be important in disease, varroa mite, pests, wax moth and bee beetle resistance. The colony strength associated with the performance of colonies and affect productivity of the high level of correlation between brood rearing time, nectar and pollen collection. The highest brood rearing activity was observed in September and March that covered up to 148.9±14.16-unit areas while the least was observed during November (1.19 ±0.43) unit area. On average 25% of absconding was observed at study site over the last two years of the study period at the time of pollen and nectar shortage mainly November and May. Therefore, it is recommended to investigate its detail behavioral aspects whether it is due to environmental or genetically factor for future selection and improvement
Acknowledgements
I greatly acknowledge South Agricultural Research
Institute, Hadassah Agricultural Research Centre for the material, logistics and
financial support