Bio- ecology and management of stingless bees (Record no. 26529)

000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 03832nam a2200181Ia 4500
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER
control field OSt
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field 20220827104654.0
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field 140128s9999 xx 000 0 und d
082 ## - DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION NUMBER
Classification number 632.6
Item number RAA/BI
100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Raakhee Mohan
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Bio- ecology and management of stingless bees
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc. Vellayani
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 2000
502 ## - DISSERTATION NOTE
Degree type MSc
520 3# - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc. With the objective of studying the bio-ecology and management of
stingless bees, a study was conducted at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani
during 1997-99.
The bee samples collected from all districts of Kerala were identified to
be of the same species viz., Trigona iridipennis Smith.
The colony consisted of a queen, workers and few drones during the
colony breeding season. The building material used by T. iridipennis was
cerumen. The species arranged their brood in clusters. Queen cells were
larger than worker brood cells. Food chamber of the species lay outside the
brood nest. The food chamber consisted of honey and pollen pots which were
larger than brood cells.
Feral colonies which were transferred to different types of hives
('~II ablished and this showed that the bees could be hived in artificial domiciles
which was a satisfactory step towards domestication.
Different management practices were tried. Division of the bee colony
could be successfully carried out by transferring half the amount of brood
cells, pollen and honey pots along a queen cell to the daughter colony.
Wooden hives were found to be more suitable for hiving T. iridipennis since
the brood development and honey yield were superior in this type of hive. The
studies on the method of extraction of honey indicated the feasibility of collecting
honey by keeping the storage pots in trays under sunlight.
Observations on the behaviour of T. iridipennis showed that each

brood cell was constructed by the summation of activities of several workers.
Mass provisioning of the brood cells was noticed. The brood cells were seen
used only once. Queen laid egg in the provisioned cell and after the oviposition a
worker closed the cell. The bees used their mandibles as a means of defence.
The average egg, larval and pupal period of T. iridipennis was found to be
4.7, 18.6 and 21.8 days respectively with a total developmental period of 45.1 days.
The species had reduced wing venation. The mandibles were modified.
The hind leg of the worker bees had the 'pencillium'. The stingless bee queens
were larger than workers
Investigations on the foraging behaviour showed two peak periods of
activity one at 1200 h and the other at 1500 h. Twenty seven plants were
recorded as bee flora. Of the 27 plants recorded, twelve plants (rubber,
cashew, coconut, chilly, cannon ball tree, coral creeper, drumstick, guava,
rose, birds cherry and tamarind) provided both nectar and pollen. Eight plants
(anthurium, bajra, sponge gourd, cinnamon, ixora, mango, touch-me-not and
sunflower) noted, were sources of pollen while seven plants (balsam, banana,
duranta, euphorbia, hamelia, marigold and phyllanthus) provided nectar only.
Two species of spiders (unidentified) and ants (Solenopsis geminata)
were found as enemies of T. iridipennis.
Stingless bee honey was slightly acidic to taste and had a dark brown
colour with the acidity and pH values being 0.294 and 3.98 respectively. The
specific gravity was l.394 g/cc. It had a moisture content of 20.7 per cent.
Glucose and fructose were 37.1 per cent and 4l.6 per cent respectively. The
honey had a higher protein content of 1.49 per cent and ash content of 1.1 per cent.

700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Devenesan S (Guide)
856 ## - ELECTRONIC LOCATION AND ACCESS
Uniform Resource Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810103754
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
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          KAU Central Library, Thrissur KAU Central Library, Thrissur Theses 2014-03-18 632.6 RAA/BI 171586 2014-03-18 2014-03-18 Theses
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