Agri Info

 CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF BEEKEEPING

The pre-requisites which are considered must to start beekeeping are as follows

• Knowledge and training on bee keeping
• Knowledge on local bee flora
• Sufficient local bee flora
• Knowledge of migratory bee keeping

Apiary site requirements

General apiary management practices

1. Hive inspection: Open the hive at least twice a week and inspect for following details. Hive record also is to be maintained for each hive.    

• Presence of queen
• Presence of eggs and brood.
• Honey and pollen storage
• Presence of bee enemies like wax moth, mite, disease

2. Expanding brood net: It is done by providing comb foundation sheet in empty frame during honey flow period.

3. Supering (Addition of frames in super chamber): This is done when brood chamber is filled with bees and all frames are covered. Comb foundation sheet or constructed comb is provided in super chamber

4. During breeding season
During honey flow season there is considerable increase in the foraging activity of the workers and in the rate of egg laying by the queen. Necessary additional space has to be provided for all these and this is done through supply of new, clean, yellow combs or comb foundation sheets.
In the case of weak stocks, the population can be increased, taking advantage of the favourable environmental conditions, by giving brood combs from strong colonies or by simply changing its position to that of a strong colony in a bright morning when the bees are busy.   The bees of the strong colony after their foraging trip return to the weak hive now located in the site of their original home and thus the weak colony becomes strong.  This should be done in a prosperous season and at a time when bees are busy.  

5. Swarm control
The strength of colonies gets denoted as a result of Swarming. Swarming can be prevented by clipping off special queen brood cells as they are constructed,  since a colony  does not send out a swarm unless a new queen is ready to take the place of the reigning queen.

There are a few other methods of swarm control in which the natural instincts of the bees for dispersal and perpetuation of species are not curbed but aim at relieving the spatial congestion and readjustment of different castes and categories of population

 (a) Primary swarm is allowed to take  place but trapped in a swarm trap and hived as a separate colony.  The after-swarms are prevented by destroying the remaining queen brood cells 

(b) One or two brood combs in the strong colonies which are inclined to issue swarms are removed and given to weak colonies.  

 (c) A brood comb with the reigning queen and a few workers taken out and put in a separate hive and thus the colony is divided, 

(d) Inter-change of positions between a strong and weak colony.

6. Artificial feeding
Bees do not visit each and every flower. They visit only flowers having ample pollen and nectar (non-toxic to them) and it should be within their reach. Therefore, the bee flora of a particular region is most important for the bee industry. Whenever there is a dearth of nectar and pollen in nature and the stock of these materials is not in the hive, then artificial feeding becomes imperative. The dearth periods vary from region to region in this country. If the bees are not fed artificially during dearth period, they start starving and dwindling, develop wander lust and ultimately abscond. White sugar syrup is a cheap substitute of honey but no pollen substitutes have been tried in this country although different pollen substitutes have been found useful elsewhere. Attempts to replace sugar syrup by cheap cane jaggery to the colonies resulted in the absconding of bee colonies because in most of the cases they did not accept it and suffered from starvation; in some cases if they accepted it they suffered from dysentery.

Preparation of artificial feed. Sugar syrup is prepared by dissolving 100 g of sugar in 150-200 ml of hot water, boiled and cooled. It is offered in 400 ml glass-bottle or cigarette tins with their mouth covered with a mark in cloth held tightly with rubber band or thread. The syrup bottle is placed upside down in the super with or without inner cover. The colonies should be fed on alternate days in the evening.

Effect of artificial feeding: The bee colonies should be fed well during dearth period, especially in winter season. In such cases swarming is induced earlier and this helps a beekeeper in making the bee colonies strong before honey-flow season starts.

7. Provision of Drinking Water
A source of fresh water within a short distance of an apiary is essential. Water is required to blend with the food and to lower the temperature of the hives during hot weather. Water can be supplied in a tank or an earthen pot set up so as to permit the water to drip. The water can be given in a glass bottle inside the hive also.

8. Uniting bee colonies
The question of uniting stock of bees arises only when the colony becomes weak or queen less and all attempts of requeening fail. It is then necessary that weak colonies should be united. As each colony has its own peculiar odour, it is necessary either to blend the odours of the two colonies slowly or suppress both by a stronger one. If this is not done the bees of the two colonies fight. The colonies to be united should be brought near each other by moving them closer, 0.5 to 1.0 m each day, so that incoming bees may not drift back to old site when the colonies are sufficiently close. Two other methods described below can also be used for uniting the colonies.

Newspaper method: Bring colonies side by side by moving 30 cm/day

Smoke method: Both colonies should be smoked heavily and then dumped into one hive. More smoke should be blown into the common hive.

9. Handling the Queen
The queen is the most important and indispensable individual in the bee colony, and should be handled properly and carefully.

10. Finding the queen
The presence of an active queen in the colony can be judged by the presence of worker eggs. If, however, it is essential to spot her or to catch her, then she must be searched properly. In a strong colony sometimes it may be difficult to spot the queen at the first look.

Test for the absence of queen. It is often necessary to be sure that a colony is really queen less before introducing a new queen. The bees of a queen less colony always develop nervousness. They do not sit properly in the comb. There will be no egg-laying or worker egg laying without uniformity in combs (more than one egg in cells).

11. Introduction of the queen
Of several methods of introducing the queen, some are direct and others indirect. For safe introduction, first it should be made sure that the colony into which it is to be introduced is really queen less and further that no queen cell is present in the brood combs. The queen should be put into a queen-introducing cage, with the exit plugged with queen candy, and then placed in the centre of the brood nest. The queen can be kept in a small specimen tube, the mouth of which is closed with a muslin cloth having a small hole to permit it to escape eventually.

12. Increasing the Number of Colonies
It is very important for beekeeper to increase his bee colony every year and this can be done by dividing the existing colonies into 2 or 3 sub-colonies with fresh queens.

(i) A bee colony can be established by purchasing it from a private or a government organization. Only those colonies should be selected or purchased which have at least 5-6 brood frames covered with bees and a healthy active queen.

(ii) The number of colonies can be increased by dividing the existing colonies during swarming season, when the queen cells are constructed. It is done by keeping 50 per cent brood combs with old queen in an empty hive. The hive should be removed at least 0-8 km away from its original site. The other half of the colony with queen cells should be kept in the original site.

(iii) Another method is to let the colony swarm, and the swarms arc captured and transferred to empty hives by giving brood comb from another colony. The swarms can be kept in the same vicinity.

(iv) Bee colonies can be captured from natural sources. Before bagging the colony, smoke should be applied. The combs are cut and placed in frames with wire to which they are firmly secured. The frames are transferred to a hive along with the bees.

Seasonal management: Pollen and nectar are available only during certain period. When surplus food source are available it is known as honey flow season. In contrast during dearth period there will be scarcity of food. During extremes in climate like summer, winter and monsoon certain specific management tactics are required.

13. Honey flow season management
This season coincides with spring. During this season,

14. Summer management
Bees have to survive intense heat and dearth period by following means.

15. Winter management
It includes the following

16. Management during dearth period

17. Rainy season and monsoon management

18. Bee pasturage or bee forage
Plants that yield pollen and nectar are collectively called bee pasturage or bee forage. Plants which are good source of nectar are tamarind, moringa, neem, Prosopis juliflora, Soapnut tree, Glyricidia maculata, eucalyptus, Tribulus terrestris and pungam. Plants which are good source of pollen are sorghum, sweet potato, maize, tobacco, millets like cumbu, tenai, varagu, ragi, coconut, roses, castor, pomegranate and date palm. Plants which are good source of both pollen and nectar are banana, peach, citrus, guava, apple, Sunflower, berries,  safflower, pear, mango and plum.

Foraging: This refers to collection of nectar and pollen by bees.

Nectar foragers: These collect nectar from flowers using lapping tongue and pass the nectar to hive bees. Hive bees repeatedly pass the nectar between pre oral cavity and tongue to ripen the honey. Later they drop the ripened honey into cells.

Pollen foragers: They collect pollen by passing through different flowers. Pollen sticking to the body is removed by using pollen comb. Then it is packed using pollen press into corbicula or pollen basket. A single bee carries 10 to 30 mg of pollen which is 25 per cent of bee's weight. Then the pollen is dislodged by middle leg into cells. Pollen is mixed with honey and stored.

 Apiculture | Beekeeping | Types of Honey bee

Honey hunting, or plundering the nests of wild honeybees to obtain honey and beeswax, is practiced throughout the world wherever colonies of wild nesting honeybees are abundant. However, obtaining honey is easier and more convenient if bees are encouraged to nest inside a hive. This housing of bees in a container is true "beekeeping", but the term is used loosely to describe all the techniques involving bees and the harvesting and processing of their products. 

Honeybees belong to the family Apidae subfamily Apinae and genus Apis.

They are social insects living in colonies. A colony consists of a queen, several thousand workers and a few hundred drones. There is division of labour and specialization in the performance of various functions. They build nests (combs) with wax, which is secreted from the wax glands of worker bees. 

The bees use their cells to rear thin brood and store food. Honey is stored in the upper part of the comb; beneath it are rows of pollen storage cells, worker brood cells and drone brood cells in that order. Some Apis species build single comb in open, while others build multiple combs on dark cavities. There are many ways to utilize honeybees for their pollination services or to obtain products from them. The methods used depend upon the types of bees available, and the skills and resources available to the beekeeper.

TYPES OF HONEY BEE

Five important species of honey bees are as follows.

The important features of these species are given below.

Agricultural Credit :

 Agricultural Credit is the amount of investment funds made available for agricultural production from resources outside the farm sector.

Classification of Agricultural credit:

  Agricultural credit can be classified based on following categories 

• Purpose
• Repayment Period
• Security
• Generation of Surplus Funds
• Creditor or Lender wise Credit
• Number of Activities Served

 i) Purpose: 

Based on the purpose for which loan is granted, agricultural credit is categorized into:

 1) Development credit or Investment Credit: This is provided for acquiring durable assets or for improving the existing assets. Under this, credit is extended for:  purchase of land and land reclamation, purchase of farm machineries and implements, development of irrigation facilities, construction of farm structures, development of plantation and orchards,  development of dairy, poultry, sheep/goat, fisheries, sericulture, etc.

2) Production credit: is given for crop, production. Here, the loan amount is used for purchasing inputs and for paying wages. 

3) Marketing credit: It is essential to carry out the marketing functions and to get higher prices for the produce.  

4) Consumption credit: It is the credit required by the farmer to meet his family expenses. 

 ii) Repayment Period: 

Based on the period for which the borrower requires credit, it is divided into: 

1) Short-Term Credit: It is given to farmers for periods ranging from 6 to 18 months and is primarily meant to meet cultivation expenses viz., purchase of seed, fertilizer, pesticides and payment of wages to labourers. It serves as the working capital to operate the farm efficiently and is expected to be repaid at the time of harvesting / marketing of crops. It. should be repaid in one installment. 

2) Medium-Term Credit: Repayment is for the period of 2 to 5 years, It is for the purchase of pump-sets, farm machineries and implements, bullocks, dairy animals and to carry out minor improvement in the farm. It can be repaid either in half yearly or annual installments. 

3) Long-Term Credit: It is advanced for periods more than 5 years and extends even unto twenty five years against mortgage of immovable property for undertaking development works viz., sinking wells, purchase of tractor, and making permanent improvements in the farm. It has to be repaid in half-yearly or annual installments. 

iii) Security: 

Credit is provided to farmers based on the security offered by them. 

1) Farm Mortgage Credit: It is secured against mortgage of land. 

2) Collateral Credit or Chattel Credit: It is given against the security of livestock, crop or warehouse receipt. 

3) Personal Credit: It is given based on the character and repaying capacity of the person and not on any tangible assets. In general, LT credit is usually advanced against security of land while MT and ST loans are sanctioned against personal and. collateral security. 

iv) Generation of Surplus Funds: 

Based on generation of surplus funds, credit can be classified as self-liquidating and non-self -liquidating credit. 

1) Self Liquidating Credit: In this case, loan amount gets absorbed in the production process-in one year or production period and the additional income generated is sufficient to repay the entire loan amount. 

2) Non-Self Liquidating Credit: Here the resources acquired with the borrowed funds are not consumed in the production process during the project period. The investment is spread over a period of several years. The additional income generated in one year is not sufficient to repay the entire loan amount and hence the repayment is spread over to number of years. 

v) Creditor or Lender wise Credit:

Credit can be  classified from the point of view of creditor. 

1) Non - Institutional Agencies: They include money lenders, traders, commission agents, friends and relatives. This kind of loan is generally exploitative. 

2) Institutional Agencies: They include co-operatives, commercial bank and regional rural bank. 

vi) Number of Activities Served: 

Based on the number of activities for which amount the loan can be used, credit can be categorized into 

a) single purpose loan and 

b) composite loan. 

Types of Agricultural Credit : 

 Considering the period and purpose of the credit requirement of the farmers of the country, agricultural credit in India can be classified into three major types 

• Short term credit: The Indian farmers require credit to meet their short term needs viz., purchasing seeds, fertilizers, paying wages to hired workers etc. for a period of less than 15 months. Such loans are generally repaid after harvest.

• Medium-term credit: This type of credit includes credit requirement of farmers for a medium period ranging between 15 months and 5 years and it is required for purchasing cattle, pumping sets, other agricultural implements etc. Medium-term credits are normally larger in size than short term credit. 

• Long term credit: Farmers also require finance for a long period of more than 5 years just for the purpose of buying additional land or for making any permanent improvement on land like the sinking of wells, reclamation of land, horticulture etc. Thus, the long term credit requires sufficient time for the repayment of such loan.  

The Chairman, along with Mayor P Neeraja, released fishlings, supplied free of cost to fishermen by the government, into Lakaram Tank here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, he said the TRS government was promoting caste-based professions on a large scale in the State.

Besides agriculture, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is keen on developing the allied sectors too. The promotion of aquaculture by the government with the free supply of fish seed has been reaping rich benefits to the fishermen community all over Telangana, Vijay Kumar noted.

He appealed to the fishermen to make use of the government schemes and grow economically. Local corporator and senior TRS leader Karnati Krishna and others were also present.

At another programme, Vijay Kumar distributed essential commodities under the aegis of a charitable organisation Gospel for Tribal Social Service Society (GTSSS) in Khammam.

Essential items like rice, sugar, cooking oil, salt, wheat flour, multi-vitamin tablets, vitamin C tablets and sanitisers were given to around 200 poor families in the 35th and 36th municipal Divisions.

The SUDA Chairman appreciated the founder of GTSSS, Bishop M Jacob for helping the needy who were affected due to Covid-19 crisis. Corporator Pasumarthi Rammohan, GTSSS representatives Y Srivenu, V John Reddy, N John, G Murali Krishna Reddy and others were present.

About GTSSS:

 Jacob Marineni, a native Indian brother, founded GTSSS. GTSSS is committed to bringing the hope of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His love to a suffering and dying humanity through practical means. "The Gospel in one hand and bread in the other," says GTSSS.

It is involved in a variety of ministerial activities such as church planting, Bible college operation, educating and housing orphans and handicapped children, providing a home for the aged and poorest, providing medical care for lepers, conducting free medical clinics etc.as the Lord opens doors.

 The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into three main seasons -(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi (iii) Zaid based on the monsoon.

The terms ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ originate from Arabic language where Kharif means autumn and Rabi means spring. In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.

Kharif Season: 

The kharif cropping season is from July –October during the south-west monsoon

Sowing & Harvesting:

Sowing from July – July

Harvest – September to October

Kharif Crops :

• The kharif crops include rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet/bajra, finger millet/ragi (cereals), arhar (pulses), soyabean, groundnut (oilseeds), cotton etc. Such crops require a lot of water for their growth.

Cropping Area:

• Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana.

•  In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro

Rabi Season:

The Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter).

Sowing & Harvesting:

Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. 

Rabi Crops :

• The rabi crops include wheat, barley, oats (cereals), chickpea/gram (pulses), linseed, mustard (oilseeds) etc. Generally rabi crops need cold weather for growth and required less water to grow.

Cropping Area:

• Rabi crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and northwestern parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops

Zaid Season :

The Zaid crops grown between March and June are summer crops 

Requires warm & dry weather for growth and a longer day-length for flowering

Zaid Crops: 

• Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. 

Cropping Area:

•  Most of the Northern and North eastern States in India

Estimation of Crop Production in India :

• In an agricultural year (July-June), the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES), Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture releases four Advance Estimates followed by Final Estimates of production of major agricultural crops of the country.

•  First Advance Estimates, released in September when Kharif sowing is generally over, cover only Kharif crops. 

• Second Advance Estimates are released in February next year when rabi sowing is also over. 

• These estimates covering Kharif as well as rabi crops take into account firmed up figures on kharif area coverage along with available data on crop cutting experiments for yield assessment of Kharif crops and tentative figures on area coverage of rabi crops.

•  Third Advance Estimates incorporating revised data on area coverage for rabi crops and better yield estimates of Kharif crops are released in April-May.

• Fourth Advance Estimates are released in July-August and by this time fully firmed up data on area as well as yield of Kharif crops and rabi crops are expected to be available with the States. 

• As such, Fourth Advance Estimates are considered to be almost as good as Final Estimates released in next February along with Second Advance Estimates for the subsequent agricultural year. In order to allow sufficient time to States to take into account even the delayed information while finalizing area and yield estimates of various crops, the Final Estimates are released about seven months after the Fourth Advance Estimates and no revision in the State level data is accepted after release of Final Estimates by DES.

Frequently Asked Questions :

1.what is the different agricultural season in India?

• The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into two main seasons-(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi based on the monsoon.

2.Kharif crops grown in which monsoon ? 

• South-west monsoon season

3.Rabi crops grown in which monsoon?

• North East Monsoon season

2.Which season is important for Indian Agriculture?

• Both season are important for cropping in India. Based on amount of receiving rain is relatively high during south west monsoon. 

3.Different between kharif and rabi season ?

• The kharif cropping season is from July –October during the south-west monsoon
• The Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter)

4. Which soil suitable for Kharif, Rabi Crop?

• Loamy Soil - Kharif Crop
• Fertile clay loam soil -Rabi crop

5.Which season is short cropping season India?

• Zaid cropping season (Summer Crop)

6. Which crops are grown in both kharif and rabi season?

• Caster

7.Kharif crops are short day plant ?

• Kharif crops require shorter days but longer nights. Kharif crops are called as short-day plants. 

8.Rabi Crops are long day plants?

• Rabi crops require less darkness( longer day). Rabi crops are called as long-day plants