EPICULTURE-
A BRIEF ACCOUNT
ATHIRA V
NATURAL SCIENCE
N.S.S TRAINING COLLEGE,
PANDALAM
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Apiculture is derived
from the honeybee's Latin name Apis mellifera,
meaning ‘honey gatherer’. Since bees do not collect honey but nectar from which
honey is made, the scientific name should actually be Apis mellifica meaning ‘honey maker’.
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Although apiculture
refers to the honeybee, the vital role all bees play in the pollination of
crops and flowering plants has caused apiculture to also include the management
and study of non-Apis bees such as bumblebees and leafcutter bees.
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Some 90 million years
ago, flowering plants first appeared on earth. The wasp-like ancestors of
bees took advantage of the food made available by flowers and began to modify
their diet and physical characteristics. Since then, flowering plants and bees
co-evolved. This eventually led to a complete interdependence, meaning that
flowering plants and bees cannot live and reproduce without each other.
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The genus Apis is
comprised of a comparatively small number of species including the western
honeybee Apis mellifera, the
eastern honeybee Apis cerana, the giant bee Apis dorsata, and the small honeybee Apis florea.
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Honeybees are indigenous
to the Eurasian and African continents and were introduced to the Americas and
Australia by European settlers.
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The western honeybee is
comprised of some 24 races or sub-species. The African honeybee, sometimes
referred to as ‘Killer bee’, is a race of the western honeybee and can
therefore cross-breed.
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Bees collect pollen and
nectar. Pollen is the protein source needed for bee brood development while
nectar is the carbohydrate source providing energy.
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Nectar is a sugar
solution produced by flowers containing about 80% water and 20% sugars.
Foraging bees store the nectar in the ‘honey sac’ where the enzyme invertase
will change complex sugars into simple sugars called mono-saccharides. Upon
return to the hive, the foraging bee will disgorge the partially converted
nectar solution and offer it to other bees. Housekeeping bees will complete the
enzymatic conversion, further removing water until the honey solution contains
between 14 – 20% water.
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Honey is too dry for any
microbes to live in. Honey is non-perishable and can be kept indefinitely in a
cool, dry place.
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The flavor, aroma and
color of honey is determined by the floral source. For example, buckwheat honey
is almost black while fireweed honey is almost colorless.
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Unlike other bees,
honeybees can communicate details about the location, quality and quantity of
food sources. This allows honeybees to access and utilize food sources
efficiently at great distances.
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Honeybees maintain
temperatures in the brood nest of between 30 and 34oC, even in the
middle of winter.
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The honeybee colony is
comprised of one queen, thousands of worker bees and a few hundred male bees
called drones. Colony size varies according to season and condition of the
colony.
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Several diseases
including viruses, various microbes and mites can affect the honeybee.
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Honeybees are used in
pollination and play a critical role in the production of many crops,
representing a value of over $14 billion per year in North America.
