12.4 Apiculture

. Apiculture Ever since the beginning of civilization, man has been trying to make use of organisms around him for various purposes and to rear them for increasing their number. One of the finest discoveries is our knowledge regarding the procurement of honey collected by honey bees. Care and management of honey bees on a commercial scale for the production of honey is called Apiculture or Bee Keeping . The word ‘apiculture’ comes from the Latin word ’ apis ’ meaning bee. Bees are reared in apiaries that are areas where a lot of bee hives can be placed. There are five well recognized types of bees in the world. They are Apis dorsata (Rock bee), Apis florea (Little bee), Apis indica (Indian bee), Apis mellifera (European bee) and Apis adamsoni (African bee). Social organization of honey bees In honey bees, a highly organized division of labour is found. A well developed honey bee colony consists of the Queen, Drones and Workers (Figure . ). All the three types depend on each other for their existence. There is normally one queen, , to , workers and few hundred drones (male bees) in a colony. Queen bee is a functional female bee present in each hive and feeds on Royal Jelly. Its sole function is to lay eggs throughout its life span. The virgin queen bee mates only once in her life. During the breeding season in winter, a unique flight takes place by the queen bee followed by several drones. This flight is called “nuptial flight”. The queen bee produces a hormonal chemical substance called pheromone. The drones in the area are attracted to the pheromone and mating takes place. During mating, the drone releases large number of sperms for sufficient fertilization. In a life span of two to four years, a queen bee lays about lakh eggs. When the queen bee loses its capacity to lay eggs, another worker bee starts feeding on the Royal Jelly and develops into a new queen. Among the honey bees, workers are sterile females and smallest but yet function as the main spring