Beekeeping and its importance

Beekeeping is the science and arts of rearing of honey bees. It is important to retain bees for production of honey, bax, propolis, pollen, (bee bread), royal jelly and bee venom for food, medicine and income. Beekeeping is also important for pollination and recreational activities.

1. One third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees. It is occasionally served at important cultural ceremonies such as weeding. It is also served to guest as sign of high regard. 2. It is a source of delicious and nutritious to human. It consumes as whole or mixed with others. 3. Royal Jelly and pollen are consumed for their high quality protein. 4. Bee venom, honey and propolis are used for treatment such as diarrhoea, vomiting, wounds cough and fungal infections. It also help to boost immunity of people living with HIV/AIDS. 5. Selling of honey bee products in local and international market you get money without any value addition. 6. Honey bee play vital role in pollination and increase productivity. 7. Beekeeping play role to conserve natural resources due to it is destructive activity.

Bee species

The five important species of honey bees as here under. Apis dorsata: The rock bee. Apis cerana indica: The Indian hive bee. Apis florea : The little bee. Apis mellifera: The European or Italian bee. Melipona irridipennis: Dammer bee, stingless bee. Apis dorsata:-

1. It built single comb in open area (About 6ft long and 3ft deep) 2. They shift the place of the colony often. 3. Average tounge length is 6.68mm. 4. The queen is dark in colour and much larger than workers and drones. 5. The drones are black in colour and big than workers. 6. Rock bees are ferocious and difficult to rear. 7. They produce about 35-40 Kg honey /comb/year. 8. The bees are the largest among the bee described.

Apis florea

1. It build comb in open of the size of palm in branches of bushes, hedges, buildings, caves, empty cases etc. 2. It is smaller than Indian bee. 3. The queen is bigger and abdomen is golden brown in colour. 4. The drones are black with smoky brown hairs on the abdomen, 5. It is wild species and poor honey yield is 0.5-1Kg honey/year/hive. 6. They are not being reared as they frequently change their place. 7. They distributed only in plains and not in hills above 450M.

Apis cerana indica (Indian bee/Asian bee)

1. This is domesticated species with medium size and spread all over of India/Asia. 2. Workers have dark colour thorax with brown hairs and the brown coloured abdomen has dark bands. 3. The drone is stouts and slightly bigger than workers. 4. They make multiple parallel combs on trees and cavities in darkness. 5. The bees are larger than Apis florae but smaller than Apis mellifera. 6. They produce honey about 8-10Kg of honey/year/hive. 7. They are more prone to swarming and absconding and is very susceptible to wax moth.

Apis mellifera (Italian bee or European bee)

1. They have been imported from Italy. 2. It behaviour look like A. indica . 3. They make multiple parallel combs in enclosed space. 4. They are larger than Indian bees but smaller than Rock bees. 5. It’s honey yield on an average 45-100 Kg/hive/year. 6. They are less prone to swarming and absconding and not susceptible to wax moth. 7. It is also called “Darling” of beekeeping.

Honey bee castes

Every honey bee colony includes a single queen, a few hundred drones and several thousand worker castes. Queen is a highly fertile and functional female. The drone is a male insect and worker is a sterile female.

Queen bee

The queen is the mother of all members of the colony and having capacity of eggs laying and its laying two types of eggs- fertilized eggs which depending on the quantity and quality of food fed the larvae, become workers or queens , unfertilized eggs which result in male or drone bees. It lay up to 2000 eggs /day in Apis mellifera. After emergence of 5-10 days, she mates with drones in one or more nuptial flights. so her spermatheea is filled with sperms, she will start laying eggs and will not mate any more. She lives for 4-5 years. Most conscientious beekeepers usually change their queens every two years. The secretion of mandibular gland of the queen is called queen’s substance. The queen substance if present in sufficient quantity performs following functions. a) Prevent swarming and absconding of colonies. b) Prevent development of ovary in workers. c) Colony cohesion is maintained. The queen also capable may lay either fertilized or sterile eggs depending on the requirement.

Drone

It is developed from un fertilized eggs. It particularly known as parthenogenesis. Due to this phenomenon, the male is fatherless. Their important duty is mating with queen. They also help in thermal regulation within hive. Drones have neither pollen baskets nor wax gland nor Nasanon gland nor venonm gland and they do not possess a sting. It have proportionately larger sexual organs compared t their body size than other animals. Their number can vary from 50 to 2000 from colony to colony. Honey ripening by exchange with worker bees.

Workers Bee:

The worker bee is a female insect and it size is 12 to 14 mm long. The reproductive organs of workers are atrophied, on the other hand, they have specialized organs, which allow them to fulfil a variety of roles, all vital to the colony, during different stages in their life. The worker can live from 40 days to 7 month. Those born in spring, only live for a few weeks.

Roles of worker bee:

1. The worker can live from 40 days to 7 month and they perform two type of works a) First three weeks- house hold duty. b) Rest of the life- out door duty.

House hold duty includes

A. Formation of comb with wax secretion from wax glands.

B. To feed the young grub with royal jelly which is secreted from hypopharyngeal gland.

C. It also feed older larvae with bee-bread (pollen+ honey).

D. To Feed and attend the queen.

E. Feeding of drones.

F. Cleaning, ventilating and cooling the hive.

G. Guarding the hive to protect from enemies.

H. Evaporating nectar and storing honey.

Outdoor duties includes

1. Collecting nectar, pollen, propolis and water.

2. Ripening honey in honey stomach. Differences between castes of bee.

S.N. Queen Drone Worker 1. Fertile female and largest in Fertile male and bigger than Imperfect female, size worker smaller than drone 2. Abdomen extends beyond the It is not so It is not so closed wings an dpendulous 3. Eyes normal Eyes large and holoptic Eyes normal 4. Frontal region not reduced Frontal region of the head Frontal region not reduced reduced 5. Tip of the abdomen pointed Tip of the abdomen rounded Tip of the abdomen with well-developed ovipositor pointed with ovipositor 6. Pollen basket and wax gland Pollen basket and wax glands Pollen basket and wax absent absent glands present Definition of Seiculture

Sericulture or silk farming is the methods of cultivating silkworms and produce silk from them. The caterpillars of domestic silkmoth (Bombyx mori’) are the most widely used silkworm species in sericulture. Other types of silkworms i.e. Eri, Muga, and Tasar are also cultivated for the production of ‘wild silks’. The rearing of silkworm and production of silk. Silk is a fiber made up two different proteins sericin and fibroin. Approximately 80% of silk fiber is made up of fibroin, which is concentrated at the core. This core is surrounded by a layer of sericin (which makes up the remaining 20% of silk). The presence of pigments (such as xanthophyll) in the sericin layer of the fiber imparts color to the silk. Each type of silk has a distinct color such as , Mulberry-yellow/ green, Eri silk- creamy white/ Brick red, Tasar silk- Copper- brown, Munga- Golden.

SILK WORM – TYPES

The five major types of silk worm. It obtained from different species of silkworms which in turn feed on a number of food plants: Except mulberry, other varieties of silks are generally termed as non-mulberry silks. India has the unique distinction of producing all these commercial varieties of silk.

Mulberry:

The majority of the commercial silk produced in the world derived from this variety and often silk generally calls to mulberry silk. Mulberry silk originated from the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. which solely feeds on the leaves of mulberry plant. These silkworms are completely domesticated and reared indoors. In India, the major mulberry silk producing states are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir which together share about 92 % of country's total mulberry raw silk production

Tasar:

The colour of tasar is like copper and its coarse type silk mainly used for furnishings and interiors. It is less lustrous than mulberry silk, but has its own feel and appeal. Tasar silk is produced by the silkworm, Antheraea mylitta which mainly thrive on the food plants Asan and Arjun. The rearings are conducted in nature on the trees in the open. Mainly tasar silk producing states of India i.e. Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa, besides Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Tasar culture is the main stay for many a tribal community in India.

Oak Tasar:

It is produced by the silkworm, Antheraea proyeli J. in India and It is a variety of finer tasar, which feed on natural food plants of oak, found in abundance in the sub-Himalayan belt of India. The major producing states of Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir. China is the major producer of oak tasar in the world and this also comes from another silkworm which is known as Antheraea pernyi.

Eri:

It is produced by domesticated Eri silk worm Philosamia ricini and also known as Endi or Errandi. Eri is a multivoltine silk spun from open-ended cocoons. It feeds mainly on castor leaves. Ericulture is a household activity practiced mainly for protein rich pupae, a delicacy for the tribal. Resultantly, the eri cocoons are open-mouthed and are spun. The silk is used indigenously for preparation of chaddars (wraps) for own use by these tribals. In India, this culture is practiced mainly in the north-eastern states and Assam. It is also found in Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa.

Muga:

This golden yellow colour silk is privilege of India and the vanity of Assam state. It is obtained from semi-domesticated multivoltine silkworm, Antheraea assamensis. These silkworms feed on the aromatic leaves of Som and Soalu plants and are reared on trees similar to that of tasar. Muga culture is specific to the state of Assam and an integral part of the tradition and culture of that state. The muga silk, an high value product is used in products like sarees, mekhalas, chaddars, etc. Silkworm Biology

The silkmoth, Bombyx mori, belongs to the family Bombycidae of the order Lepidoptera and about 300 moth species under this order. The biology of silkworm represents the most advanced form of metamorphosis. Termed holometabolous ( Complete) , the silkworm completes life cycle in four distinct stages of development i.e.egg, larva, pupa and adult. The number of life cycles (generations, which is termed as voltinism) per year depends on the silkworm strain and it varies with the environmental conditions particularly temperature. Silkworm strains which go through multiple generations (5-6) in a year are polyvoltines or multivoltines. These strains do not undergo egg diapause, which is an adaptation to tropical condition in which there is no severe winter. Under natural conditions, silkworm strains which undergo only one generation in a year are univoltine strains. This is an adaptation to overcome harsh winters in temperate countries. Artificially, these eggs which hibernate during winter are stored at 4oC. After removal from cold storage to room temperature (25oC), about two weeks later ova in diapause eggs begin final development until hatching. The size of egg a pinhead and resembles a poppy seed. The eggshell provides a protective covering for embryonic development. When first laid, an egg is light yellow. Fertile ova darken to a blue-grey within a few days. The larva is an elongated caterpillar, the only feeding stage in the life cycle. The larva is monophagous, feeds only on Morus alba. The larva moult four times to complete growth during his life. The period between successive moults is called an instar. At the end of the 5th instar, the larva spins a silk cocoons of one continuous fibre within which it undergoes pupation. Commercial source of silk is silk cocoons. From the time larva hatches out from the egg up to the time of spinning silk thread at the end of larval life, grows about 10,000 times. Bred in captivity for thousands of years on trays of mulberry leaves, B. mori is fully domesticated and cannot survive without the assistance of man. The silk cocoon serves as protection for the pupa. Cocoons colour are shades of white, cream and yellow depending on silkworm variety. After a final moult inside the cocoon, the larva develops into a brown, chitin covered structure called the pupa. Metamorphosis of the pupa result in an emerging moth or adult. The moth body is covered with heavy, round, furry scales and lacks of functional mouthparts, so are unable to consume food. The forewing has a hooked tip, which is a characteristic feature of this family, however it is flightless. Wings and body are usually white, but may vary in shades of light brown. Wingspan is 1.5 to 2.5 inches. (4-6 cm). It is the reproductive stage where male adult mate with female and females lay eggs. Adult is the final stage in the life cycle of B. mori.