EFFECT OF COLONY STRENGTH AND RACE ON SOME PRODUCTIVE CHARACTERS OF HONEYBEES, Apis mellifera L. COLONIES

Kasim, Mohamed S.M.; Khalil, S. I.Y.; El-Shakaa, S. M.A.; Abd-Alla, S. M.

doi:10.21608/zjar.2017.52964

EFFECT OF COLONY STRENGTH AND RACE ON SOME PRODUCTIVE CHARACTERS OF HONEYBEES, Apis mellifera L. COLONIES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

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

10.21608/zjar.2017.52964

Abstract

The present work was carried out in a private apiary located at El-Moullak region, Abu-Hammad District, Sharkia Governorate, to investigate the effect of colony strength and race of bee on the performance of honeybee colonies in brood rearing activity, drawing out wax foundation and honey production during citrus and clover flow period of 2014 and 2015 seasons. Summarized data are as follows: based on the two years mean strong Carniolan colonies reared the largest area of sealed worker brood during both citrus (1046.66 in²/ colony) and clover (1310.65 in²/colony) flows, followed by strong Italian colonies. On the other hand, the least sealed brood area was reared in median Italian colonies (502.66 in²/colony) during citrus flow and for median Carniolan colonies (581.98 in²/ colony) during clover flow. Strong colonies of both Italian and Carniolan hybrids drew out significantly higher area of wax foundation than median colonies of the two hybrids. However, the highest drawn out area was recorded for strong Italian colonies (270.16 in²/ colony) during citrus flow and for strong Carniolan colonies (224.66 in²/colony) during clover flow period. On the contrary, median Italian colonies drew out the least wax foundation area, that recorded 116.50 and 106.49 in²/colony during citrus and clover flow period, respectively. Strong colonies of both hybrids proved to be more for citrus and clover honey producers than median ones. The highest citrus honey yield was gained from strong Italian (9.33 kg/colony) and strong Carniolan (11.66 kg/colony) in 2014 and 2015 seasons, respectively. On the other hand, median Carniolan colonies yielded the least citrus honey crop in both seasons. As to clover honey, both strong Italian and Carniolan hybrid colonies, produced 10 kg/ colony in 2014. The two hybrids showed similar trend in 2015. On the contrary, median Italian hybrid colonies produced significantly lower clover honey yield than strong ones of the two hybrids (7.43 and 6.91 kg / colony) in 2014 and 2015 seasons, respectively.

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