EFFECT OF NECTAR FLOW TYPE AND HONEYBEE HYBRID ON DRAWING OUT WAX FOUNDATIONS AND HONEY PRODUCTION OF HONEYBEE, Apis mellifera L. COLONIES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Plant Prot. Dept., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

Abstract

The present work was carried out in a private apiary located at El-Moullak locality, Abu-Hammad district, Sharkia Governorate, to investigate the performance of Italian and Carniolan honeybee hybrid colonies in drawing out wax foundations and honey production during citrus and clover flow periods of 2014 and 2015 seasons. Summarized results are as follows: based on the two years mean Italian hybrid colonies drew out higher area of wax foundation during clover flow period of 2014 and 2015 seasons, recording 382.5 in2 vs 315 in2 recorded for Carniolan hybrid. Italian hybrid colonies proved to be more clover honey producers than Carniolan ones. For instance, Italian colonies produced a mean of 9.93 kg clover honey/colony compared to 8.96 kg honey/Carniolan hybrid colony. However, nearly similar quantity of citrus honey recording 8.65 and 8.59 kg citrus honey/Italian and Carniolan colony, respectively.

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