Honeybees, Apis cerana colony performance in the non-protected and protected beehive methods in relation to climatic factors

Abstract

Honeybees, Apis cerana is one of the local bee species in Malaysia. Apis cerana plays important role in beekeeping activities, especially in producing honey known as a superfood and helping in pollination activities. However, a low survival rate of Apis cerana in the beehive box was observed because Apis cerana had a high tendency to migrate from the beehive box due to some reasons particularly natural enemies attack and climatic factors. Therefore this study was carried out to determine the effect of protected and non-protected beehive methods on the colony of Apis cerana under different method practices and fluctuated climatic factors. Ten standard beehives boxes with their colonies altogether were divided into two groups, five colonies of bees in the non-protected beehive boxes method while the remaining five protected beehives boxes method. Protected beehive is equipped with several protection techniques to avoid predator and queen of bees running away from the beehives. The Apis cerana colonies were examined, observed, collected and recorded regularly four times per month for one year interval of the sampling period. Data was also collected through the Snow Ball Sampling technique by ground trotting for verification such as pictures of every single comb of the beehives, and the numbers of an individual’s bees calculated using an empirical measuring technique. As a result, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the population abundance of bees colony in the protected beehive box as compared to the population abundance of bees colony in non-protected beehive box. Additionally, there was no significant relationship (P>0.05) between the population of Apis cerana with temperature for both methods protected and non-protected beehive boxes except for rainfall in the protected beehives. Beekeepers who face similar problems, particularly in mass rearing of Apis cerana for commercial could use protected beehive boxes since the population abundance of bees and its colonies was successfully developed in the protected beehive practices as climatic factors was also considered. Hopefully, the findings of this study could contribute to a significant increase in income for farmers and subsequently encouraged the apiculture industry in future.