Beekeeping Research Articles

A STUDY ABOUT COMPOSITION AND QUALITY CONTROL

Royal jelly is a natural substance and therefore it is subject to issues such as the quality of the product and the strength of the product. It is an expressive substance and there is a limited amount produced. The gland of the nurse bees makes royal jelly. They synthesize it from bee pollen, propolis and other things, and produce it with their enzyme, and then they secrete it into the comb and give it to the queen bee. Royal jelly is secreted by the hypo pharyngeal gland (sometimes called the brood food gland) of young worker (nurse) bees, to feed young larvae and the adult queen bee. Royal jelly is the sole source of nourishment for the queen bee throughout her long and productive life. Royal jelly is always fed directly to the queen or the larvae as it is secreted; it is not stored. This is why it has not been a traditional beekeeping product. The only situation in which harvesting becomes feasible is during queen rearing, when the larvae destined to become queen bees are supplied with an over – abundance of royal jelly. The queen larvae cannot consume the food as feet as it is provided and royal jelly accumulates in the queen cells. The exacts definition of commercially available royal jelly is therefore related to the method of production: it is the food intender for queen bee larvae that are four to five days old.

Formas de producción de las comunidades indígenas para responder a las demandas del mercado globalizado

<p>Las comunidades indígenas caucanas poseen sistemas de organización que connotan una base comunitaria para establecer un orden y un control social que se ve reflejado en sus sistemas productivos surgidos de emprendimientos colectivos, mediante producción agroecológica, bajo el concepto de cadenas productivas, autonomía alimentaria, sistemas de financiamiento alternativos, formas de comercialización locales y externas, formación de personal propio, investigación local, organización administrativa, gestión y planeación productiva, en renglones como turismo, cafés especiales, frutales, apicultura, plantas medicinales y aromáticas, quinua, amaranto, maderas, fique, leche, entre otros, bajo un concepto de participación, gobernabilidad local, sostenibilidad ambiental, equidad de género y generacional, y cuya finalidad es el fortalecimiento de su desarrollo endógeno y la participación justa en los mercados globales.</p>

EVALUATION OF SOME CHEMICAL MATERIALS FOR CONTROLLING OF VARROA MITE, Varroa jacobsoni Oud. ON HONEYBEE

The present investigation was achieved at the apiary of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate during 2008 season to evaluate the efficiency of five materials, i.e., formic acid 60%, salcelate methyl 60%, Bayvarol strips, malathion powder 1% and Apitol for controlling varroa mite. All tested materials reduce mite population. Malathion powder 1% and formic acid 60% were the most effective material on varroa mite (93.75 & 89.57% reduction) on each of workers and drones after the fourth week of treatment during the first period from 1/2/2008 to 28/2/2008, respectively. Also, during the second period from 1/9/2008 until 28/9/2008, malathion powder 1% gave the highest reduction (93.15 & 94.00%) of varroa mite on each of workers and drones after the fourth week of treatment, respectively. On the other hand, the remaining materials, i.e., formic acid 60%, Apitol (2 gm), salcelate methyl 60% (2 cm3/colony) and Bayvarol strips gave a high reduction (88.19, 86.67, 84.08 & 82.0%) of varroa mite on workers after the four weeks of application during the first period, respectively. Also, during the second period formic acid 60%, salcelate methyl 60% (2 cm3/colony, Apitol (2 gm) and Bayvarol strips exhibited a high reduction (88.13, 88.11, 84.21 & 82.86%) of varroa mite on workers after the fourth week of application, respectively. At the same trend, formic acid 60%, salcelate methyl 60% (2 cm3/colony), Apitol (2 gm) and Bayvarol strips gave a high reduction (91.67, 91.11, 86.67 & 84.11%) of varroa mite on drones after four weeks of treatment during the second period, respectively. It could be concluded that bee keepers can use formic acid 60%, and salcelate methyl 60% (2 cm3/colony) safety during the above two tested periods for controlling varroa mite.

Factors affecting the attachment of micro-organisms isolated from ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes in dairy processing plants

To identify the types of micro-organisms involved in the formation of biofilms on dairy ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes and investigate factors affecting the attachment of those isolates. Micro-organisms isolated from industrial membranes following standard cleaning were identified using the API culture identification system. Thirteen different isolates representing eight genera were isolated and their ability to attach to surfaces was compared using a microtitre plate assay. Three Klebsiella strains attached best, while mixed strains of Pseudomonas and Klebsiella attached better than individual strains. Whey enhanced the attachment of the isolates. The micro-organisms were characterized according to cell surface hydrophobicity using the microbial adhesion to hydrocarbon (MATH) test, and cell surface charge by measuring the zeta potential. These cell surface characteristics did not show a clear relationship with the attachment of our strains. A variety of different micro-organisms is associated with dairy ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes after cleaning, suggesting several possible sources of contamination. The cleaning of these membranes may be inadequate. The attachment of the different isolates is highly variable and enhanced in the presence of whey. Knowledge of persistent microflora colonizing dairy membrane systems will help develop strategies to mitigate biofilm development in this environment, improving hygiene in membrane processing plants.

Biosafety assessment and benefits for co-existence of biological contained plants- regulatory assessment in the EU-project “Transcontainer”

The EU-project TransContainer deals with the evaluation of environmental impact and benefits for coexistence between GMand non-GM plants. Different containment strategies are applied to a broad spectrum of crops (e.g. oilseed rape, sugar beet, tomato) as well as to perennial plants like trees and grasses. The containment methods focus on three strategies: Chloroplast Transformation, Controllable Flowering and Controllable Fertility. Key issues are (a) safety assessment focussing on three points: molecular characteristics, ecology of the GM species and consequences of a potential break-down of the containment system. (b) Benefit assessment of the containment system for the co-existence of GM and non-GM plants. The environmental impact assessment is performed based on the criteria provided by the EFSA Guidance document (2006) for the placing on the market of GM plants in the EU. Additionally to impact assessment, an economic evaluation is performed. The development of contained GM crop plants is still in an early stage and thus our evaluation is focussed on the safety assessment of the general methodical characteristics. Benefits of Chloroplast Transformed plants: Chloroplast transformation is a promising containment system for plant species with strict maternal plastid inheritance by avoiding the outcrossing of recombinant genes via the pollen. The targeted insertion of a GM sequence in the chloroplast genome by homologous recombination has three advantages: (1) insertional inactivation of unknown functional genes is avoided, (2) endogenic in-situ promoters can be used, and (3) even though plastids harbour relatively small replicons, large insertions are tolerated. However, it has to be verified that the transgene is not inserted unintentionally in the nuclear genome since the transformation (e.g. particle bombardment technique) could be unspecific. Benefits of plants with Controlled Flowering: The suppression of flowering is useful for plants that are cultivated for their vegetative parts, e.g. sugar beet, grasses or trees. For bi-annual sugar beet, the inhibition of undesired bolting and flowering will either prevent out-crossing and introgression into endogenous beet populations as well as facilitate the cultivation of beets for the farmer. In grasses, flower suppression will improve the fodder quality as the shoots have higher lignin content thus hampering the digestibility of the feed. In trees that are intended to be cultivated in plantations for biomass production, the suppression of flower development would offer certain advantages: GM trees with e.g. changed wood properties would neither develop pollen nor seeds containing the inserted DNA, avoiding any unintended hybridisation or spread of the GM seeds by wind. In contrast to trees that can be propagated vegetative, grasses as well as sugar beet need to flower for breeding purposes. Therefore, a molecular switch will be introduced, which will initiate flowering upon an external chemical stimulus. In case of flower induction for breeding, other (physical) measures are requested to avoid unintended out-crossing and spread of hybrids. Benefits for Co-existence: Regarding the legislation on GM plants in the EU, the minimisation of GM escape via pollen into adjacent non-GM fields or wild relatives is an important point in the improvement of co-existence measures. In chloroplast transformed plants, the spread of inserted DNA is limited only at the pollen level, whereas the (transgene) seeds produced by the mother plant could still be lost or spilled unintended during harvest and transport. Upon complete flower suppression, neither pollen nor seeds will be released, thus gaining a very high level of restriction. The containment measures will allow (i) minimising the isolation distances between GM and nonGM fields, (ii) protecting the GM cultivating farmers for liability claims from neighbours, (iii) reduce conflicts with bee keepers, and (iv) avoid unintended mixtures with food products.

Benefit-cost analysis of apiculture farm.

The market of bee products is being expanding in the last years. To make the apicultural farms successful, it requires raw materials, manpower, market but also quality of bee products (K. H. Devkota, 2006). In this context, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the profitability of apicultural farms by implementing the modern management instruments: new technologies, good apicultural practices, and HACCP guide. Benefit-cost analysis was applied to evaluate the apicultural farms of Transylvania. The analyse was made in two situations: 1 st -implementation of the classic methods and 2 nd – implementation of the modern management system (diversification of the products and increase of the quantity). The costs of production were divided in two categories: direct costs and fixed costs.

The Effect of Nourishing Supplements on Bees Colonies Growing after Winter Period

The supplementary food administration represent a very often practice for beekeepers from our country. The aim of this research was to evaluate the brood development from colonies, which were fed whit different naturals supplement added in supplementary food. The brood surface and average of frames number occupied by bees were followed for all hives token in study, after the winter period and during the period of preparation for principals harvesting. The best results were obtained for Protofil and selenium on frames number and for brood surface the best influence was registered for Echinaceea and Protofil

Honey bee colony collapse disorder is possibly caused by a dietary pyrethrum deficiency

Industrialized farming relies on bee keepers transporting hives to the vicinity of large areas of mono-crops for crop pollination. Hives are typically moved multiple times per growing season to satisfy the pollination need. A phenomenon wherein colonies of honey bees collapse in large numbers has been threatening crops in North America. Honey bees are hosts to at least two pathogenic mites; Varroa destructor and Acarapis woodi (a tracheal mite). Pyrethrums are a group of flowering plants which include Chrysanthemum coccineum, Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium, Chrysanthemum marschallii, and related species. These plants produce potent insecticides, also named pyrethrums, which are powerful mite toxins. We believe that a honey bee dietary deficiency of pyrethrums and other micro-nutrients from pyrethrum producing plants allows parasitic mites to either kill the honey bees directly or reduce honey bee resistance to other pathogens. Intermittent feeding of honey bees on pyrethrum producing plants might reverse or prevent colony collapse disorder.

HONEYDEW HONEY PRODUCED IN TRANSYLVANIA: PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND MELISOPALLINOLOGICAL EVALUATION FOR AUTHENTICITY CHARACTERIZATION

28 declared honeydew honey samples were collected from different Transylvanian areas directly from the beekeepers (24 samples) or from supermarket (4 samples). Physico-chemical parameters as well as microscopic analysis were done in order to authenticate the honeydew honey from this part of Romania. The results of electrical conductivity, ash and mineral content, honeydew honey elements demonstrated that from the analyzed samples 7 were real honeydew honeys, 9 were mixture of multifloral and honeydew honeys and 12 were multifloral honeys. High quantity of honey, ddeclared and sold as honeydew honey do not correspond to the EU requirements for honeydew honey. To improve this situation, a better control by the authorities and certified laboratories, is needed

Iron Age beehives at Tel Reḥov in the Jordan valley

Beehives were discovered in a densley built area in the Iron Age city of Reḥov (tenth-ninth century BC). They consisted of hollow clay cylinders, each with a little hole at one end (for the bee) and a removable lid at the other (for the bee keeper). These beehives, the earliest found in the Near East, were identified by analogy with examples pictured on Egyptian tombs and in use by traditional peoples. The suggested identification was confirmed by chemical analysis.

CALCULATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE COST OF PRODUCTION IN BEEKEEPING

Analysis of the cost of production contributes to determining the degree of efficiency of the costs related to the level of production. The efforts of the experts are directed towards finding a system calculation that ensure, on the one side, an operative determination of the unit cost, and on the other side, a possibility of determining the appropriate indicators, necessary to take decisions on short term. Beekeeping is characterized by obtaining more of the products (pollen, propolis, royal jelly, venom, wax, apilarnil) and by highlighting the overall costs of production. Among the methods for calculating the unit cost, the most common are the remaining value method and the coefficients method of distributing costs; the difference between these two methods is represented by the criteria used for sharing costs on products.

The role of acculturation in the mentoring-career satisfaction model for Asian/Pacific Islander American university faculty.

This study aimed to test the generalizability of the mentoring-career satisfaction relationship from European Americans to Asian/Pacific Islander American (APIA) faculty and to examine acculturation as a possible moderator. Faculty (N = 139) from four large public universities in California completed self-report surveys on mentoring, career satisfaction, and acculturation. Results suggest that the relationship generalizes to APIA faculty and that acculturation plays a role in the model, though not as hypothesized. Although acculturation did not moderate the relationship between mentoring and career satisfaction, it predicted mentoring (via an interaction) and career satisfaction (for participants born overseas) individually. Protégés using particular acculturation strategies reported a greater extent of mentoring from mentors of certain ethnic groups. In addition, participants who were born overseas and are more oriented to their API culture reported greater career satisfaction. Our results suggest that researchers should consider cultural variables, such as acculturation, when studying APIAs or when working with APIAs.

Kiva and the Birth of Person-to-Person Microfinance

allows individuals in the developed world to loan to small business people in the developing world. Kiva operates in the microfinance space and works with a growing network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in more than thirty countries. Our MFI partners post the profiles of their loan applicants to the website. Internet users in the United States, Canada, Europe, and beyond make small loans via PayPal to these businesses. The businesses pay the lenders back over a period of about a year. Since starting, Kiva lenders have funded $6 million in loans this way. In its first year, the site featured a spinach farmer in Cambodia, a hot dog stand man in Nicaragua, a carpenter in Gaza, a bee keeper in Ghana, and a fish seller in Uganda. Behind each of these businesses lies a story. (See Textbox 1.) Each is unique, but patterns emerge—patterns that get us closer to understanding what it means to be in poverty and the difficult process of trying to escape. These stories are at the heart of Kiva’s goal and strategy: the human connections we build between lenders and borrowers have brought new lenders to the microfinance movement, and foster in them a new awareness and connection to the people who briefly use their money. By telling stories, we allow MFIs that lack access to capital markets to efficiently raise money and serve more clients. This case tells the story of Kiva—how Jessica and I came to the decision to create Kiva, what the effort involved, and our progress to date. We had no idea what we were getting into.

Pollination biology of Cymbidium goeringii (Orchidaceae) in China

The genus Cymbidium comprises three subgenera with ca. 50 species. Interactions between pollinators and plants have been studied in the two subgenera Cymbidium and Cyperorchis, but only a few studies in the subgenus Jensoa have been reported. Here we report on the reproductive characteristics of C. goeringii (in sub- genus Jensoa) in three populations in the southwest of Hunan Province, China, during the winter from December 2005 to March 2006. Floral phenological and morphological features, behavior of visitors, the breeding system, and fruit sets under natural conditions were studied. The flowers of C. goeringii were strongly fragrant, but did not present any rewards to the visitors. The flowering period of C. goeringii in the studied populations lasted about 40 days, and most flowers (about 60%) opened within 30 days. Flowers opened immediately when temperature increased obviously and reached to about 16 . The flowering ℃ time of the pollinated flowers, unpollinated flow- ers and the flowers with pollinarium removed were similar. Two bees of Apidae, Apis cerana cerana (honeybee) and Anthophora melanognatha, were observed visiting flowers of C. goeringii, but only the honeybees performed as pollinators. The honeybees mostly visited the orchid flowers at 10:00-17:00 on sunny days with temperature above 10 . A total of ℃ only thirteen visits were observed during 20 days of observation, indicating pollinators were rare. Honeybees directly landed on the upper surface of the labellum and inserted their heads into the flowers between column and labellum, while the hind legs trod on the surface of the curved downward mid-lobe of label- lum. When a honeybee landed on the labellum of a flower, the labellum moved up and down slightly. After the honeybee entered the flower further, its head might touch the foot of the column. At this time, the body of the honeybee was parallel with the upper surface of the labellum. Then the honeybee used its front legs to scratch on the callus ridges on the upper surface of the labellum, and its hind legs hooked the edges of the side lobe of label- lum, trying to exit forcibly from the flower. During exiting process, sometimes the honeybee's body was arched owing to tension. In this case, the surface of the scutellum came into close contact with the viscidium and then pollinaria, together with the anther cap, were removed. When this honeybee visited next flower, the pollinaria would be adhered to the stigma when it arched its body during the exiting process. Three plant species flowered synchronously with C. goeringii in the studied areas, but their flowers were different with C. goeringii in color or shape. Because C. goeringii is rewardless to pollinators, the flowers probably attract visitors by olfactory stimu- lus. Breeding system experiments showed no spontaneous autogamy and pollination success relying on pollinators in C. goeringii. Artificial pollination resulted in 90% fruit set by induced autogamy, 100% by pollinating within clone, and 100% by xenogamous pollination, respectively. These results indicate that C. goeringii is highly self-compatible and the fruit production is pollen limited. Because pollinators are essential for fruit set of C. goeringii in natural habitats, protection of wild honeybee populations or apiculture is likely a simple but effective strategy to maintain the orchid populations.

ECOTYPES DIFFERENTIATION WITHIN HONEYBEE (APIS MELLIFERA CARPATICA) FROM TRANSYLVANIA

The honeybee ecotypes differentiation from Transylvania are the results of organism`s adaptation at different environmental conditions. Behindhand characteristic morphometric measurements it can be differentiated some ecotypes of Apis mellifera carpatica. In this way, were measured the honeybees from 4 Transylvanian region: Silvasu de Campie (plain), Sagu (plain), Beclean (mountain) and Sibiu (mountain). The results confirm a mixture between the ecotypes from the Transylvanian regions, and the same characteristics showed last years are not any more presented. This things are the results of transhumance apiculture

MARKET STUDY ABOUT HONEY CONSUMPTION IN ROMANIA

The present study investigates consumer behavior in Romania as regard honey. The methodology used was querying a number of 2023 persons in 166 localities about the consumption of hone y. Questionnaires were used as the principle research tool. The survey was completed in July 2007. Specif ically, honey characteristics, frequency of use, per capita consumption and purchase location were examined. Results show that honey symbolizes a natural product for th e consumer. It is appreciate too for its medicinal properties. 10, 8% of consumers report they have never used honey and 25, 75% report they have used maximum 500 g/year. Other findings are: honey use increases wit h household income and with education level, honey is used by all members of the family, but women and children consume more than men. Main reasons for not purchasing honey appear to be: consumers don't use it, honey i s too expensive and because of different diseases ( diabetes, allergies). Most honey is purchased in the marketpl ace (33%) or directly from beekeepers.

Selection of streptomycetes with antimicrobial activity to the pathogens of bee's diseases.

Honey bees, as they forage for nectar and pollen, play a vital role in the environment and in preserving biodiversity by pollinating both wild flowers and many agricultural crops. The essential and valuable activities of bees depend upon beekeepers maintaining a healthy population of honey bees. In prophylaxis and pest control of infectious diseases, various medical preparations like tetracycline derivatives, sulfonamides, inactivated vaccines, are applied. Quite often for researching of effective remedies it is necessary to resort the search of some new antibiotics, to which the infections agent, allocated from the concrete centers, are sensitive. The article present the information about antimicrobial activity of some variants of strain S.canosus CNMN-71, received after γ and γ +UV irradiations

When bees hamper the production of honey: Lexical interference from associates in speech production.

In this article, the authors explore semantic context effects in speaking. In particular, the authors investigate a marked discrepancy between categorically and associatively induced effects; only categorical relationships have been reported to cause interference in object naming. In Experiments 1 and 2, a variant of the semantic blocking paradigm was used to induce two different types of semantic context effects. Pictures were either named in the context of categorically related objects (e.g., animals: bee, cow, fish) or in the context of associatively related objects from different semantic categories (e.g., apiary: bee, honey, bee keeper). Semantic interference effects were observed in both conditions, relative to an unrelated context. Experiment 3 replicated the classic effects of categorical interference and associative facilitation in a picture-word interference paradigm with the material used in Experiment 2. These findings suggest that associates are active lexical competitors and that the microstructure of lexicalization is highly flexible and adjustable to the semantic context in which the utterance takes place.

The beginning of beekeeping in Siberia

The beginning of beekeeping in Siberia

The beginning of beekeeping in Siberia

(2006). The beginning of beekeeping in Siberia. Journal of Apicultural Research: Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 51-52.