OR By NirmAl G.K

9B

Bee-keepingApicultureBee-keeping or Apiculture

INTRODUCTION

Apiculture or bee-keeping is the art of managing bees with the intention of getting the maximum return from this work with the minimum of expenditure.Bees produce swarms, queens, wax and honey. The production of swarms and queens should be left to specialists. The production of wax has some value, but this value is diminished by the cost of rendering. The production of honey is the main purpose of bee-keeping, one that the beekeeper pursues before everything else, because this product is valuable and because it can be weighed and priced. Honey is an excellent food, a good remedy, the best of all sweeteners.

BEE( ANTHOPHILA ) STRUCTURE

ABOUT BEE - KEEPING

• Honey is widely used and therefore bee-keeping for making honey has become an agricultural enterprise. The local varieties of bees used for commercial honey production are Apis cerana indica, commonly known as the Indian bee, A. dorsata, the rock bee and A.florae, the little bee.An Italian bee variety, A. mellifera, has also been brought in to increase the yield of honey. This is the variety commonly used for commercial hone production.

• The value or Quality of honey depends upon the pasturage, or the flowers available to the bees for nectar and pollen collection. In addition to adequate quantity of pasturage the kind of flowers available will determine the taste of the honey.

HOW IS HONEY USEFUL ?#1 Honey is good for your blood#2 Honey is safer than sugar#3 Honey is antibacterial and antiseptic#4 Honey is an energy food#5 Prevent cancer and heart disease#6 Reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders#7 Reduce cough and throat irritation#8 Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-fungal#9 Blood sugar regulation#10 Heal wounds and burns

Stand

Alighting board

Brood chamber

Queen excluder

Honey supers

Roof

THE HIVE

INSIDE THE HIVECombThe first thing we notice inside a hive is the sheets of wax hollowed out with regular cavities. These sheets are called combs. The cavities are called cells or alveoli. Some are just started and others are finished. The combs are separated by about a centimeter.CellsThe cells have different sizes. Cells of males are bigger; those of workers, smaller. There are also some irregular cells called transition cells. Finally there are sometimes some queen cells of a special shape outwardly resembling a peanut. OccupantsIn the hive there is of course a queen, some workers and some males. We have discussed them in a preceding chapter. The queen has no task other than to lay. The workers are busy with various tasks: feeding the queen and the larvae; fetching nectar, pollen, propolis and water; cleaning the cells of the hive. The males are scattered on the brood with no apparent occupation, probably to warm it. If the hive is visited during hot periods, the males are outside or in the corners of the hive so as not to obstruct the workers.

GLOBAL TRADE: TOP 10 (2004)HONEY EXPORTS HONEY IMPORTS

Country Weight (thousand metric tons)

Percentage of total

China 81.3 24.2%Argentina 65.2 18.6%Mexico 23.4 6.9%Germany 22.4 6.6%Brazil 21 6.2%Vietnam 15.6 4.6%Hungary 15 4.4%Canada 14 4.2%Uruguay 13.4 4%India 10.4 3.1%

Country Money Spent(millions of US dollars)

Percentage of total

Germany 230.7 27.5%United States

149.6 17.8%

U.K. 75.1 8.9%Japan 65 7.7%France 54.5 6.5%Italy 41.6 5%Spain 31.5 3.7%Saudi Arabia

26 3.1%

Switzerland

23.1 2.8%

Netherlands

56 3.7%

BEE DISEASES

• Varroa• European Foul Brood • American Foul Brood• Nosema• Acarine• Sacbrood • Chalkbrood• Wax moth

THANK

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." ---Einstein

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