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.