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Page 1: honey bees in India

Apiculture

 

Page 2: honey bees in India

Simplified morphology and anatomy of honey bee

Page 3: honey bees in India

Honey bee feeding 

The honeybee feeds on nectar and pollen, both of which are collected from flowers

The nectar is sucked from the nectaries in flowers by means of a proboscis. The proboscis is tucked back under the thorax when not in use

When a bee visits a flower, its body becomes dusted with pollen. The hind legs are adapted to comb the pollen off the body, compact it and store it as ‘pollen sacs’. These are pushed into cells in the hive when the bee returns

Waggle dancing

A bee returning to the hive from a good source of nectar performs a ‘dance’ on the vertical comb.The dance follows a track like a squashed figure. The angle between the central line and thevertical represents the angle between the source, the hive and the sun. The degree of ‘waggle’ in this line indicates the distance; more waggle means greater distance. Other workers, in the darkness of the hive follow the dancing bee and so learn the direction and distance of the nectar source

tube through which nectar is drawn

compoundeye

antenna

Structure of the proboscis

ProboscisJaws for cutting the wax capping of hive cells

Head of honey bee

Bees hind leg

pollen pushed in between the two rows of bristles to form pollen sac

pollen comb collects pollen from bodySun

hive

Nectar source

angle

 same angle

vertical

The waggle tail danceIf the food resources are very close to the hive, they may also exhibit a less specific dance commonly known as the "Round Dance". . Honey bees also perform tremble dances, which recruit receiver bees to collect nectar from returning foragers.

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Honey bees-different species present in India

Five important species of honey bees are as follows.

• The rock bee, Apis dorsata (Apidae).• The Indian hive bee, Apis cerana indica (Apidae).• The little bee/dwarf bee, Apis florea (Apidae).• The European or Italian bee, Apis mellifera (Apidae).• Dammer bee or stingless bee, Melipona irridipennis (Meliporidae).

Page 5: honey bees in India

Rock bee (Apis dorsata) Apis dorsata laboriosata, the Himalayan honey bee, differs little from the giant honey bee in appearance, but has extensive behavioral adaptations that enable it to nest in the open at high altitudes despite low ambient temperatures.

It is the largest living honey bee.

Characteristic features

1. They are giant bees found all over India in sub-mountainous regions up to an altitude of 2700 m. These bees are the largest among the bees described.

2. They construct giant single comb in open about 6 feet long and 3 feet deep. The comb is fully exposed and huge from inaccessible branches of trees, along the sides of steep rocks in the forest and even from the walls, rafters and other parts of buildings

3. They shift the place of the colony often.

4. Although they produce highest amount of honey among many other Indian species (36 Kg honey per comb per year) they are ferocious and difficult to rear. The rock bee honey represents a major portion of the honey sold in our markets collected by hive hunters.

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Little bee (Apis florea)

They are also known as dwarf honey bees. They are native to India and are distributed only in plains and not in hills above 450 MSL.

Characteristic features

1. The size of the bees is smallest among four Apis species described

2.They build single vertical combs in open of the size of palm in branches of bushes, hedges, buildings, caves, empty cases etc .

3. They produce about half a kilo of honey per year per hive.

4. They are not domesticate species as they frequently change their place.

5. It is probably the closest, living descendant of the earliest honey bees that has spread from Asia into the Middle East

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Apis indica

Characteristic features

1. It is the common Indian bee found both in the forests as well as in plains throughout our country.

2. It is smaller than rock bee but larger than little bee.

3. This bee builds many parallel combs in the cavities and hollows of trees, caves and such other hidden sites.

4. This form is capable of being domesticated and is commonly reared in South India. The annual yield of honey is 2 to 5 per colony

Page 8: honey bees in India

Indian hive bee / Asian bee (Apis cerana indica)

As the name suggest they are native to India/Asia. Apis cerana, or the Asiatic honey bee (or the Eastern honey bee), is a species of honey bee found in southern and southeastern Asia. This species is the sister species of Apis koschevnikovi, and both are in the same subgenus as the Western (European) honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Characteristic features

1. They constitute the main honey bee species that are cultivated for commercial production of honey and other substances. 2. They are the domesticated species that build multiple combs.3. The average yield of honey is 6-8 kg/year.4. They are more prone to swarming and absconding.5. They are smaller than Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera and larger than Apis florae.6. They are used in apiculture, mostly in wooden boxes with fixed frames. These bees can be adapted to living in cavities in some human structures and in purpose-made hives, and their nesting habit means that they can potentially colonize temperate or mountain areas with prolonged winters or cold temperatures

Page 9: honey bees in India

Characterestic features

European bee / Italian bee (Apis mellifera)

Characteristic features

1. They are the only bees that were not native to this country but imported from European countries and slowly they adapted and distributed themselves all over the Indian subcontinent.

2. They are the bigger than all other honeybees except Apis dorsata.3. The average honey production per colony is 25-40kg.4. They are less prone to swarming and absconding.5. They build parallel combs.

Page 10: honey bees in India

Characteristic features

1. Their size are much smaller than true honey bees.2. They build irregular combs of wax and resinous substances in crevices and hollow tree trunks. The comb of Melipona iridipennis is made up of a dark material called ‘cerumen’ which is a mixture of wax and earth or resin3.They are important not because of their yield of honey but their pollinating power of various food crops. They produce only 100gm of honey per comb per year.4.They can be domesticated.5. They are incapable of stinging because of the presence of vestigial sting but they bite their enemies or intruders.6.7.8.

Dammer Bee

Besides true honey bees, two species of stingless or dammer bees, viz. Melipona and Trigona occur in our country in abundance.

Page 11: honey bees in India

Taxonomic position- Apis cerana indica (a subspecies of Apis cerena which is called as Asiatic honey bee)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Suborder: Apocrita

Family: Apidae

Subfamily: Apinae

Genus: Apis

Species: A. cerana

Subspecies: A. cerena indica

Eight subspecies of  A. cerana are currently recognized. Out of these, two subspecies are predominant and used for apiculture in India: Apis cerana cerana and Apis cerana indica. These species are similar to Apis mellifera except in color. A. cerana indica have black stripes on their abdomen and they live close to hilly areas and are sometimes seen in plains regions. A. cerana cerana have yellow stripes on their abdomen and are habituated to plains regions of India. A. mellifera tends to be slightly larger than A. cerana, which can be readily distinguished from A. mellifera. These are less aggressive and also display less swarming behavior than any other wild bees such as Apis dorsata and Apis florea and therefore can be easily used for beekeeping.

Range of Apis cerena

Page 12: honey bees in India

Life cycle of Apis cerena indica

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The three types of bees

The queen is a fertile female. There is only one queen in a hive and only she can lay eggs.

queen drone worker

Drones are males. There may be several hundred in a hive. Their function is to fertilise the queen

Workers are sterile females. There may be 20,000 to 80,000 in a hive. They do all the work of building the combs, collecting and storing nectar and pollen, feeding the larvae and cleaning the hive.The workers build three types of wax cell, differing in size or shape. The queen lays eggs in each of the cells and the eggs hatch into larvae. The workers feed the larvae until they are ready to pupate and then they put a wax capping over the cell. After 10-11 days the capping is bitten off and the adult bee emerges

The eggs laid in the drone cells are unfertilised and develop into males.The eggs laid in the worker cells and queen cells are fertilised but the queen larvae are fed a different diet from that of the larvae in the worker cells.The difference in diet causes the workers to be sterile and the queen to be fertile.

larva

Workers place food in cell

adult bee almost ready to emerge

wax cell

capping

drone cells (wider)

queen cell(larger )

Page 14: honey bees in India
Page 15: honey bees in India

APICULTURE-Products and uses

• Honey

Honey is the complex substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants and trees are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees as a food source for the colony. 

• Bee venom

Bee venom is acidic as it contains the highly acidic peptide melittin.  histamine and other biogenic amines may also contribute to pain and itching.[2] In one of the medical uses of honey bee products, apitherapy, bee venom has been used to treat arthritis and other painful conditions.

• Propolis

Propolis or bee glue is created from resins, balsams and  tree saps. Those species of honey bees that nest in tree cavities use propolis to seal cracks in the hive.  Propolis is consumed by humans as a health supplement in various ways and also used in some cosmetics.

• Wax

Worker bees of a certain age secrete beeswax from a series of glands on their abdomens. They use the wax to form the walls and caps of the comb. As with honey, beeswax is gathered for various purposes.

• Pollen

Bees collect pollen in the pollen basket and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing. In certain environments, excess pollen can be collected from the hives of A. mellifera and A. cerana. It is often eaten as a health supplement.

Page 16: honey bees in India

Agricultural technique

Page 17: honey bees in India

Honey bees-Parasites, Pest, predator and diseases of honey bees

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• Varroa mites[edit source | editbeta]• Varroa mite on a honey bee larva• Main article: Varroa destructor• Varroa destructor and Varroa jacobsoni are parasitic mites that feed on the bodily fluids of adult, pupal and larval bees. Varroa mites can be seen with the naked eye as a small red or brown spot on the bee's thorax. Varroa mites are carriers for a virus that is particularly damaging to the bees. Bees infected with this virus during their development will often have visibly deformed wings.• Varroa mites have led to the virtual elimination of feral bee colonies in many areas, and are a major problem for kept bees in apiaries. Some feral populations are now recovering—it appears they have been naturally selected for Varroa resistance.• Varroa mites were first discovered in Southeast Asia in about 1904, but are now present on all continents except Australia. They were discovered in the United States in 1987, in New Zealand in 2000, and in Devon, United Kingdom in 1992.• These mites are generally not a problem for a strongly growing hive. When the hive population growth is reduced in preparation for winter or due to poor late summer forage, the mite population growth can overtake that of the bees and can then destroy the hive. Often a colony will simply abscond (leave as in a swarm, but leaving no population behind) under such conditions.• Varroa in combination with deformed wing virus and bacteria have been theoretically implicated in colony collapse disorder.• Treatment[edit source | editbeta]• A variety of treatments are currently marketed or practiced to attempt to control these mites. The treatments are generally segregated into chemical and mechanical controls.• Common chemical controls include "hard" chemicals such as fluvalinate (marketed as Apistan) and coumaphos (marketed as CheckMite) and "soft" chemicals such as thymol (marketed as ApiLife-VAR and Apiguard), sucrose octanoate esters (marketed as Sucrocide), oxalic acid and formic acid (sold in gel packs as Mite-Away,[1] but also used in other formulations). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, when used in beehives as directed, these treatments kill a 

large proportion of the mites while not substantially disrupting bee behavior or life span. Use of chemical controls is generally regulated and varies from country to country. With few exceptions, they are not intended for use during production of marketable honey. [2]• Common mechanical controls generally rely on disruption of some aspect of the mites' lifecycle. These controls are generally intended not to eliminate all mites, but merely to maintain the infestation at a level which the colony can tolerate. Examples of mechanical controls include drone brood sacrifice (varroa mites are preferentially attracted to the drone brood), powdered sugar dusting (which encourages cleaning behavior and dislodges some mites), screened bottom 

boards (so any dislodged mites fall through the bottom and away from the colony), brood interruption and, perhaps, downsizing of the brood cell size. A device called the varroa mite control entrance (VMCE) is under development as of 2008. The VMCE works in conjunction with a screened bottom board, by dislodging varroa mites from bees as they enter and exit a hive.[3]• Acarine (Tracheal) mites[edit source | editbeta]• Acarapis woodi is a small parasitic mite that infests the airways of the honey bee. The first known infestation of the mites occurred in the British Isles in the early 20th century. First observed on the Isle of Wight in 1904, the mystery illness known as Isle of Wight Disease was not identified as being caused by a parasite until 1921. It quickly spread to the rest of Great Britain. It was regarded as having wiped out the entire native bee population of the British Isles (although later 

genetic studies have found remnants that did survive) and it dealt a devastating blow to British beekeeping. Brother Adam at the Buckfast Abbey developed a resistant hybrid bee known as the Buckfast bee, which is now available worldwide to combat acarine disease.• Diagnosis for tracheal mites generally involves the dissection and microscopic examination of a sample of bees from the hive.• Acarine mites, formerly known as tracheal mites are believed to have entered the US in 1984, via Mexico.• Mature female acarine mites leave the bee's airway and climb out on a hair of the bee, where they wait until they can transfer to a young bee. Once on the new bee, they will move into the airways and begin laying eggs.• Treatment[edit source | editbeta]• Acarine mites are commonly controlled with grease patties (typically made from 1 part vegetable shortening mixed with 3–4 parts powdered sugar) placed on the top bars of the hive. The bees come to eat the sugar and pick up traces of shortening, which disrupts the mite's ability to identify a young bee. Some of the mites waiting to transfer to a new host will remain on the original host. Others will transfer to a random bee—a proportion of which will die of other causes 

before the mite can reproduce.• Menthol, either allowed to vaporize from crystal form or mixed into the grease patties, is also often used to treat acarine mites.• Nosema[edit source | editbeta]• Nosema apis is a microsporidian that invades the intestinal tracts of adult bees and causes nosema disease, also known as nosemosis. Nosema is also associated with Black queen-cell virus. Nosema is normally only a problem when the bees can not leave the hive to eliminate waste (for example, during an extended cold spell in winter or when the hives are enclosed in a wintering barn). When the bees are unable to void (cleansing flights), they can develop dysentery.• Nosema is treated by increasing the ventilation through the hive. Some beekeepers will treat a hive with antibiotics.• Nosema can also be prevented or minimized by removing much of the honey from the beehive then feeding the bees on sugar water in the late fall. Sugar water made from refined sugar has lower ash content than flower nectar, reducing the risk of dysentery. Refined sugar, however, contains fewer nutrients than natural honey[4] which causes some controversy among beekeepers [Nutrient Database(USDA SR-21)]• In 1996, a similar type of organism to Nosema apis was discovered on the Asian honey bee Apis cerana and subsequently named Nosema ceranae. This parasite apparently also infects the Western honey bee.[5]• It has been reported that exposure to corn pollen containing genes for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) production may weaken the bees' defense against Nosema.[6] In this study, it is stated that in relation to feeding a group of bees with Bt corn pollen and a control group with non-Bt corn pollen, that: "in the first year the bee colonies happened to be infested with parasites (microsporidia). This infestation led to a reduction in the number of bees and subsequently to reduced broods 

in the Bt-fed colonies as well as in the colonies fed on Bt-toxin-free pollen. The trial was therefore discontinued at an early stage. This effect was significantly more marked in the Bt-fed colonies. (The significant differences indicate an interaction of toxin and pathogen on the epithelial cells of the honeybee intestine. The underlying mechanism which causes this effect is unknown.)" This study should be interpreted with caution given that there was no repetition of the experiment nor any attempt to find confounding factors. In addition, it is noteworthy that BT toxin and transgenic BT pollen showed no acute toxicity to any of the life stages of the bees examined, even when the BT toxin was fed at concentrations 100 times that found in transgenic BT pollen from maize.

• Small hive beetle[edit source | editbeta]• Further information: Small hive beetle• Comb slimed by hive beetle larvae. Hives infested at this level will drive out bee colonies.• Aethina tumida is a small, dark-colored beetle that lives in beehives.• Originally from Africa, the first discovery of small hive beetles in the western hemisphere occurred in the US. The first identified specimen was found in St. Lucie, FL in 1998. The next year, a specimen collected from Charleston, SC in 1996 was identified and is believed to be the index case for the United States.[7] By December 1999, small hive beetle was reported in Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota,New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin, and was found 

in California by 2006.• The life cycle of this beetle includes pupation in the ground outside of the hive. Controls to prevent ants from climbing into the hive are believed to also be effective against the hive beetle. Several beekeepers are experimenting with the use of diatomaceous earth around the hive as a way to disrupt the beetle's lifecycle. The diatoms abrade the insect's surface, causing them to dehydrate and die.• Several pesticides are currently used against the small hive beetle. The chemical is commonly applied inside the corrugations of a piece of cardboard. Standard corrugations are large enough that a small hive beetle will enter the cardboard through the end but small enough that honey bees can not enter (and thus are kept away from the pesticide). Alternative controls (such as cooking-oil-based bottom board traps) are also becoming available. Also available are beetle eaters[

clarification needed] that go between the frames that uses cooking oil.• Wax moths[edit source | editbeta]• Wax moth (Aphomia sociella)—more often associated with bumble bees (Bombus sp.)• Main article: Waxworm• Galleria mellonella (greater wax moths) will not attack the bees directly, but feed on the wax used by the bees to build their honeycomb. Their full development to adults requires access to used brood comb or brood cell cleanings—these contain protein essential for the larvae's development, in the form of brood cocoons.• The destruction of the comb will spill or contaminate stored honey and may kill bee larvae.• When honey supers are stored for the winter in a mild climate, or in heated storage, the wax moth larvae can destroy portions of the comb, even though they will not fully develop. Damaged comb may be scraped out and will be replaced by the bees. Wax moth larvae and eggs are killed by freezing, so storage in unheated sheds or barns in higher latitudes is the only control necessary.• Because wax moths cannot survive a cold winter, they are usually not a problem for beekeepers in the northern U.S. or Canada, unless they survive winter in heated storage, or are brought from the south by purchase or migration of beekeepers. They thrive and spread most rapidly with temperatures above 30 °C (90 °F), so some areas with only occasional days that hot, rarely have a problem with wax moths, unless the colony is already weak due to stress from other factors.• Control and treatment[edit source | editbeta]• A strong hive generally needs no treatment to control wax moths; the bees themselves will kill and clean out the moth larvae and webs. Wax moth larvae may fully develop in cell cleanings when such cleanings accumulate thickly where they are not accessible to the bees.• Wax moth development in comb is generally not a problem with top bar hives as unused combs are usually left in the hive during the winter. Since this type of hive is not used in severe wintering conditions, the bees will be able to patrol and inspect the unused comb.• Wax moths can be controlled in stored comb by application of the aizawai variety of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) spores via spraying. It is a very effective biological control and has an excellent safety record[citation needed].• Wax moths can be controlled chemically with paradichlorobenzene (moth crystals or urinal disks). If chemical methods are used, the combs must be well-aired-out for several days before use. The use of naphthalene (mothballs) is discouraged because it accumulates in the wax, which can kill bees or contaminate honey stores. Control of wax moths by other means includes the freezing of the comb for at least twenty-four hours.• Bacterial diseases[edit source | editbeta]• Symptoms[8]

• Appearance of brood comb• Age of dead brood• Color of dead brood• Consistency of dead brood• Odor of dead brood• Scale characteristics• Infectious agent• Sealed brood. Discolored, sunken, or punctured cappings.• Usually older sealed larvae or young pupae. Lying lengthwise in cells.• Dull white, becoming light brown, coffee brown to dark brown, or almost black.• Soft, becoming sticky to ropy.• Slightly to pronounced putrid odor.• Lies uniformly flat on lower side of cell. Adheres tightly to cell wall. Fine, threadlike tongue of dead maybe present. Head lies flat. Black in color.• American Foulbrood• Unsealed brood. Some sealed brood in advanced cases with discolored, sunken or punctured cappings.• Usually young unsealed larvae; occasionally older sealed larvae. Typically in coiled stage.• Dull white, becoming yellowish white to brown, dark brown, or almost black.• Watery; rarely sticky or ropy. Granular.• Slightly to penetrating sour.• Usually twisted in cell. Does not adhere to cell wall. Rubbery. Black in color.• European foulbrood• American foulbrood[edit source | editbeta]• Main article: American foulbrood• American foulbrood (AFB), caused by the spore-forming Paenibacillus larvae[9] (formerly classified as Bacillus larvae and Paenibacillus larvae ssp larvae/pulvifaciens), is the most widespread and destructive of the bee brood diseases. Paenibacillus larvae is a rod-shaped bacterium, which is visible only under a high power microscope. Larvae up to 3 days old become infected by ingesting spores that are present in their food. Young larvae less than 24 hours old are most 

susceptible to infection. Spores germinate in the gut of the larva and the vegetative form of the bacteria begins to grow, taking its nourishment from the larva. Spores will not germinate in larvae over 3 days old. Infected larvae normally die after their cell is sealed. The vegetative form of the bacterium will die but not before it produces many millions of spores. Each dead larva may contain as many as 100 million spores. This disease only affects the bee larvae but is highly infectious and deadly to bee brood. Infected larvae darken and die.

• As with European foulbrood, research has been conducted using the 'Shook Swarm' [10] method to control American foulbrood, "the advantage being that chemicals are not used".• European foulbrood[edit source | editbeta]• Melissococcus plutonius is a bacterium that infects the mid-gut of the bee larva. European foulbrood is considered less serious than American foulbrood. Melissococcus plutonius is not a spore forming bacteria, however bacterial cells can survive several months on wax foundation. Symptoms include dead and dying larvae which can appear curled upwards, brown or yellow, melted or deflated with tracheal tubes more apparent, or dried out and rubbery.[11]• European foulbrood is often considered a "stress" disease—a disease that is dangerous only if the colony is already under stress for other reasons. An otherwise healthy colony can usually survive European foulbrood. An outbreak of the disease may be controlled chemically with oxytetracycline hydrochloride, but honey from treated colonies could have chemical residues from the treatment. The 'Shook Swarm' [10] technique of bee husbandry can also be used to effectively 

control the disease, the advantage being that chemicals are not used. Prophylactic treatments are not recommended as they lead to resistant bacteria.• Fungal diseases[edit source | editbeta]• Chalkbrood[edit source | editbeta]• Ascosphaera apis is a fungal disease that infests the gut of the larva. The fungus will compete with the larva for food, ultimately causing it to starve. The fungus will then go on to consume the rest of the larva's body, causing it to appear white and 'chalky'.• Chalkbrood is most commonly visible during wet springs. Hives with Chalkbrood can generally be recovered by increasing the ventilation through the hive.• Stonebrood[edit source | editbeta]• Stonebrood is a fungal disease caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. It causes mummification of the brood of a honey bee colony. The fungi are common soil inhabitants and are also pathogenic to other insects, birds and mammals. The disease is difficult to identify in the early stages of infection. The spores of the different species have different colours and can also cause respiratory damage to humans and other animals. When a bee larva 

takes in spores they may hatch in the gut, growing rapidly to form a collarlike ring near the head. After death the larvae turn black and become difficult to crush, hence the name stonebrood. Eventually the fungus erupts from the integument of the larva and forms a false skin. In this stage the larvae are covered with powdery fungal spores. Worker bees clean out the infected brood and the hive may recover depending on factors such as the strength of the colony, the level of infection, and hygienic habits of the strain of bees (there is variation in the trait among different subspecies/races).

Page 19: honey bees in India

Virus infection in honey bees

Schematic representation of virus transmission routes in honey bees. Virus transmission in honey bees appears to involve both horizontal and vertical transmission pathways. Viruses infect

different bee hosts of the same generation by horizontal transmission via the following means: foodborne transmission, fecal–oral transmission, venereal (sexual) transmission, and/or

vector‐borne transmission. Viruses are also vertically transmitted from infected queen to their offspring. Both transmission pathways are believed to be the important survival strategies

for persistence and establishment of viruses in bee population. Solid lines represent horizontal transmission and dotted lines represent vertical transmission