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A Summary of Apiculture

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 Chapter - 6
A Summary of Apiculture

Authors
Shambhu Katel
G.P. Koirala College of Agriculture and Research Centre
(GPCAR), Gotegaon, Morang, Nepal
Honey Raj Mandal
G.P. Koirala College of Agriculture and Research Centre
(GPCAR), Gotegaon, Morang, Nepal
Rohit Sharma
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute
of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
India
Sagar Koirala
Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
Sandipa Timsina
G.P. Koirala College of Agriculture and Research Centre
(GPCAR), Gotegaon, Morang, Nepal

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Page | 72
 Chapter - 6
A Summary of Apiculture
Shambhu Katel, Honey Raj Mandal, Rohit Sharma, Sagar Koirala and Sandipa Timsina

Abstracts
The science of beekeeping is known as apiculture. Apiculture makes use
of low-cost, locally available resources that yield quick results. Honey bees
are important for cross pollination and crop yield improvement, which is a
profitable venture with environmental, socioeconomic and cultural
implications. However, due to some constraints such as improper harvesting,
bee diseases, pests and predators, poisoning from agro-chemicals and
deforestation, beekeeping expansion has been slow.
Keywords: Apis, bees, drones, mellifera
Introduction
Apiculture or beekeeping, is a promising branch of agriculture that has
the potential to contribute significantly to environmental conservation and
economic development. Honey bees, as excellent pollinators and producers of
honey, bees wax, bee venom and polishing agents, are in high demand both
nationally and internationally. 'Apiculture' is derived from Latin word i.e.,
Apis means bee and culture means rearing. So, Apiculture is a branch of
agriculture in which bees are raised on a commercial scale for the production
of honey and for use as pollinators to boost crop yields. It can be also defined
as art and science of rearing and managing honey bees in a box called a 'bee
hive' for the production of honey and other products such as propolis, royal
jelly, beeswax, and bee venom. Beekeeping is an old tradition, but in most
area it is considered a low-risk, high-reward venture. Honey production is a
profitable business that employs people. Beekeeping provides a lucrative
livelihood for unemployed children as well as additional profits for farmers in
rural areas. Honey bees are the only insects that collect large amounts of
nectar, despite the fact that many insect species feed on it. Only two honey
bee species, Apis mellifera L. and Apis cerana F., are domesticated worldwide.
Honey has been consumed by humans for thousands of years and is most
commonly consumed unprocessed (i.e., liquid, crystallized or in the comb). It

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can be taken as medicine, eaten as food, or used as a flavor enhancer in a
variety of foods and beverages. Honey has been used to treat a variety of
ailments for centuries in a variety of ways. Honey bees live in a matriarchal
society, with a queen bee ruling over a colony of tens of thousands or even
fifty thousand bees.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Apis
Species: Mellifera
Benefits of beekeeping
a) Because honey bees are excellent pollinators, they play an important
role in crop production. They produce 70-80% of all crops. They help
to pollinate the crops, resulting in a higher yield and higher quality.
b) Honey, the honey bee's main product, has a greater use because it has
medicinal value and can be used to treat a variety of diseases. It can
be used to treat malnutrition.
c) Bee venom has a lot of potential for exportation on the global market.
d) Honey bees help to maintain ecosystem balance by reducing the use
of chemical resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and
limiting soil erosion. They are also very important in terms of
horticulture. With its ecological, socioeconomic and cultural
impacts, apiculture is a profitable venture.
e) Honey bees have excellent thermoregulation and respond quickly to
changes in the colony's microclimate.
f) Beekeeping is a farming practice that is appropriate and well adapted
to a wide range of ecosystems.
g) Because apiaries are kept on the boundaries rather than cultivated
land, no farm land is wasted.
h) Because beekeeping is a migratory profession, it provides an
excellent source of income for landless farmers.
i) Source of employment for the people with greater benefit for women
and the youth.

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 j) In terms of revenue generation as well as religious and cultural
benefits, apiculture plays a significant role in both societal and
national economies.
k) Through direct and indirect effects, the apiary industry has an
economic impact.
Despite the fact that beekeeping is a profitable business, it’s popularity
remains low due to the low marketing of honey and other byproducts around
the world.
Lie cycle of honey bee
Honey bee is an insect with complete metamorphosis. This means that
there are four distinct stages in the life cycle.
1. Egg
The queen is the colony's leader and the only sexually mature female. Her
job entails laying eggs. Queen lays eggs 3-4 days after mating. The egg is
Creamy white in colour, babana shape. 1 egg laid in each cell at the center of
hexagonal cell. She has the ability to lay up to 2,000 eggs in a single day.
Millions of eggs can be laid during her lifetime.
2. Larvae
It emerges after 3 days of incubation of egg which is whitish grub without
any legs and eyes. During the larval stage, developing bees molt 5 times. The
average time for development is: 5.5 days for queen; 6 days for a worker and
6.5 days for a drone.
3. Pupae
On about 9th day the cell containing grubs are sealed. Grub secrete a thin
silken cocoon. Pupation lasts approximately 7.5 days for queens, 12 days for
workers and 14.5 days for drones.
4. Adult
It Come out from cell by making a hole through a cap. It is differentiate
in 3 castes i.e. Queen, Workers and drones.
Development (Days) Worker Queen Drone
Egg hatches after 3 3 3
Cell is sealed after 9 8 10
Adult emerges after 21 16 24

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Stages of development
Eggs stage (days) Larvae (days) Pupa (days) Adult (days) Life span
Queen 3 5 8 15 3-4 years
Worker 3 7 11 21 35 days
Drone 3 7 14 24 60 days

Honey bee colony

1) Queen: A queen bee can live for up to two years. This is due to the
fact that at work, bees provide and maintain a type of protein-rich
food known as royal jelly. The royal jelly queen can live for up to
two years and lay up to 1000 eggs per day. The queen does not do
any other work in the hive and is fed royal jelly for the rest of her
life. It is bigger in size which is long slender appearance which is due
to development of ovaries in her abdomen. A single queen reigns
over each colony. The queen returns to the hive after mating with
drones to begin the task of egg laying. The queen starts to lay eggs
after 2 days of successful mating, good queen can lay more than 3000
eggs per day.
2) Drones: Drones are male bees which are bigger than workers whose
only job in the hive is to provide sperm for the new queen. Queens
and drones, like younger and middle-aged workers, can be exposed
to pesticides through contaminated food brought back to the hive or
by beekeepers intentionally using pesticides in the colony. The end
of the abdomen is blunt and is covered with a tuft of small hairs. The
mature drones (15 days old) leave the colony during the afternoon
and congregates in certain areas where they wait for mating with
virgin queens. When there isn't enough food in the hive, they are
driven out and starve or freeze to death. They also die from
exhaustion and the rupture of their abdomen after mating.
3) Workers: Worker bees are sexually immature females who make up
the majority of a colony's adults. Worker bees do all of the work, both
inside and out. Older workers forage for pollen and nectar outside the
hive. As a result, they may be more exposed to pesticides through
direct contact during foraging as well as dietary exposure during
pollen and nectar collection. average life of the worker bee is about
1 month. Younger workers clean the cells and tend to the brood,
while middle-aged workers perform a variety of tasks, primarily
within the hive. Pollen nectar water and plant exudates used to make
propolis are among the thing worker bees bring into the colony.

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 Pollen is used as a protein source. It can be eaten straight away, used
to make brood food or royal jelly, or stored and eaten later as bee
bread.
The work division take place by
1-3 days workers clean cells and warm the brood nest.
4-6 days workers feed on older larvae (>3 days) with honey and pollen,
thermoregulation.
5-12 days workers on Feed younger larva.
>21 days workers collect forage for nectar, pollen, water or propolis.
Communication of honey bee
Communication and orientation mechanisms are critical for the survival
of social insect colonies because they allow for recruitment and exploitation
of available resources. Honey bees' underpinning communication mechanism
is dance language, which provides precise information about distance,
direction, and quality of food source. This, combined with bees' ability to
orient themselves using visual, olfactory and magnetic senses, makes resource
exploration extremely efficient. Honey bees uses different methods of
communications for foods. If the presence of nectar is indicated by dance, the
scout will pause and distribute a small amount of nectar to her co-workers. If
the source is pollen, she will allow the others to inspect or detect the pollen's
odor. The sound produced by a dancing bee appears to be an important mode
of communication. Some of them are listed below:
A. Sound communication
a) Buzzing sound/hissing sound: Angry.
b) Pepping sound: Virgin queen sound.
c) Humming sound: Good hive condition.
B. Dance communication
1. Round dance
Move the bees in a circular motion for this type of dance. This indicates
that forage sources are located within 10 meters of the hive. The amount and
diversity of flora is determined by the length of time spent dancing. Round
dances emit acoustic signals. The amount and abundance of flora is
determined by the duration of the dance. If there is rich source they perform
vigorous dance where as for poor source they perform slower dance.

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2. Sickle dance
This dance indicates the presence of food between 10-100 m from the
hive. In this dance, bees move in a sickle. Wider the mouth of the sickle, nearer
is the source of pollen and nectar.
Wide of sickle dance Distance between the source of food(m)
Wide 14
Medium 50
Narrow 100

3. Wage tail Dance/Waggle dance

When the source of food is more than 100 meters away from the hive,
bees perform this dance.
The speed with which the dancer completes her dance cycle indicates the
distance, while the angle formed by the lines between the food source, the hive
entrance and the sun indicates the direction. The direction is indicated by the
head at the center line and the number of straight runs indicates the distance
to the food source.
C. Touch
Honey bees communicate using their antennae, which are used to sense
touch.
Diseases
Adult stage
1) Viral disease
a) Acute paralysis virus (APV)
It is the major disease of Apis mellifera. They have no control over their
body tremors and can fly. Because the disease results in hair loss, it should
appear dark and shiny.
Adult bees infected with the virus develop the frost symptom of acute pa
ralysis in 3-4 days and die within a few days.
b) Chronic bee paralysis virus
It's caused by the chronic bee paralysis virus, which has two types of sy
mptoms.
Symptoms 1: Tremble, unable to fly due to bloated abdomens.
Symptoms 2: Hair loss, black shiny bees seen crawling near the hive
entrance.

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 Control:
 No chemical treatment.
 Maintain colonies strength.
 Provide better hive environment.
2) Protozoan disease
A. Nosema disease
Caused by: Nosema apis, Nosema ceranae
 Adult bees' intestinal tracts are infected.
 Bees become dysenteric with distend abdomen with faces, shining a
nd swollen abdomen.
 Workers bees are found crawling near the hive entrances with disjoi
nted wings.
 Many of them body hair.
Management
 Requeening.
 Proper ventilation.
 Sterilized the bee keeping equipment with glacial Acetic acid fumes
(soaked with cotton at 120ml/hive) or 40% formalin fumes.
 Feeding on fumagillin 25 mg in 1 litre of sugar syrup.
Brood stage
1. Bacterial disease
A. American foul brood disease
Caused by Bacillus larvae.
It is the most common and destructive disease. It has an effect on larvae
and pupa. The general symptoms are listed below:
1) The presence in the comb of dead older larvae or pupae lying flat in
their cells is the first noticeable symptom of AFB
2) Infested cells become moist, darken in color, and eventually turn into
a sticky mass that emits a foul odor.
3) Darkening and death of infected larvae.

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 Management
 Frequently inspection.
 Old hive should be avoided.
 Dusting the comb with sulfathiazole powder.
 Antibiotics such as Terramycin or sodium sulfathiazole, mixed at
100mg/liter of sugar solution, are used to kill and burn infected
colonies.
 Oxytetracycline is mixed at 80 mg per liter of sugar solution and fed
every two weeks.
 Beekeeping tools and equipment are sterilized.
B. European Foulbrood (EFB)
Caused by Melissococcus plutonius, Streptococcus plutonius.
EFB isn't as dangerous to honeybee colonies as AFB is.
The disease is frequently discovered in colonies that are under extreme s
tress.
When the stretch test is used, the dead larvae cannot be pulled out in a
thread, nor do they adhere to the cell walls. affects only young honeybee
larvae, about 4-5 days old, usually at the coiled stage.
Unlike AFB, their texture is rubbery rather than brittle. The infected
larvae turn yellow, then brown, revealing the tracheal system. cells are poorly
capped and mixed with normal cells.
The management practices includes
1) Improving the colony’s strength.
2) Inspect the hives regularly.
3) Take away the empty/unoccupied combs from the hives.
4) In severe cases, feed colonies with an antibiotic such as sodium
sulfathiazole or oxytetracycline or terramycin i.e. I part of the
terramycin mixed with 20 parts powdered sugar and dissolved in 4
litre of sugar syrup.
2. Fungal disease
a) Chalk brood disease
Caused by Ascosphaera apis, Pericystis apis

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 It is also called Kalkbrut disease. The first sign of disease is the worker
bees detect dead larvae and chew small pin holes in the capping which is
covered with whitish mycelia. The dead larvae mummify, harden shrink and
appear chalk like and often covered with cottony filaments named called
“chalk brood”.
Management
 Prevent during wet spring.
 Transfer of healthy bees into another bee hive.
 Proper ventilation.
b) Stone brood disease
Caused by Aspergillus flavus
It is also called stein brunt disease. The infected larvae are killed when
they are capped. Whitish yellow colour like ring near the head end of the
larvae. After the death the larvae becomes hardened and difficult to crush,
hence the name stone brood.
Management
1) Remove of mummies.
2) Collect and burn the mummified larvae.
3) Supply good qualities feed foe colonies.
4) Sterilization of hive with formaldehyde fumes.
3. Viral disease
a) Sac Brood/Thai sac brood disease
Caused by virus Morator aetatulas.
Symptoms
 Spotty brood appearance.
 Capping tends to be darker, concave and punctured frequently.
 Diseased larvae fail to pupated.
Management
 Sterilization of bee keeping equipment with KMnO4 @50g/litre
water followed by hot water dipping.
 Fumigation of hive by formic acid @5 ml/hive.

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Some other disease of honey bee
1. Amoeba
Malpighamoeba mellificae, a single-celled parasite, causes Amoeba, a
disease of honey bees. The parasite attacks honey bees' malpighian tubules,
shortening their life cycle.
Bee predators
1) Wasps
2) Bee eater
3) Crow
4) Lizards
5) Bear
6) Squirrel
7) Man
8) Frog
9) Cockroach
10) Slug
11) Spider
Insect pests of honey bee
1) Wax moth
2) Wax beetle
3) Honey moth
4) Bee fly
5) Ants
6) Mites
Control measure of pest and predators of honey bee
 Regular visit apiary.
 Maintain strong colonies.
 Maintain strict hygienic condition in hive and apiary.
 Places the hive on stands supported by posts 30-50 cm high and coat
the post with greasy materials.
 Use bait traps.
 Places the hives on stands 40-60 cm high for frogs.

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  Places mouse guard in entrances.
 Capture and kill.
 Spray liquid sulphur.
Author declaration
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. All authors contributed
equally in all stages of preparation of this manuscript. Similarly, the final
version of the manuscript was approved by all authors.
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