Assessment of dearth periods for honey bees (Apis mellifera) in Gwalior (M.P.), India

[摘要]  Management of honeybees for the production of various value added products require complete knowledge & understanding of beekeeping practices. Honeybee colonies should be evaluated for their performance during dearth periods so that appropriate measures can be opted to successfully overcome dearth periods. In the present study, various colony parameters viz. egg laying area, brood area, honey and pollen storage area were observed and recorded. Values obtained for all the parameters viz. egg laying (1712 cm2), brood area (1302.7 cm2), pollen stores (1090.7 cm2) and honey stores (1476 cm2) were maximum in the April month when sufficient bee flora was available. The values decreased for all the parameters and reached minimum (0.0) in June month when the food sources were in scarce.

[学科分类] 昆虫学

[关键词] Honeybee;beekeeping;dearth periods;Gwalior;brood