Apiculture is the scientific method of rearing honeybees, primarily for honey production, pollination, and other bee products like Wax, Royal jelly, Bee venom, Pollen and Propolis. Honey bees are most important pollinators.
Major honey bee species in India are:
- Apis dorsata (Rock bee)
- Apis cerana indica (Indian bee)
- Apis florea (Little bee)
- Apis mellifera ( European or Italian bee) - most productive species world wide
- Tetragonula irdipennis (Dammer or Stingless bee)
- Apis karinjodian (Indian black honey bee) - Newly identified species Indian bees are popular among small scale and traditional beekeepers due to their resilience and ease maintenance. We are maintaining 20 numbers of Indian honey bee colonies in our college and it makes multiple parallel combs in trees and cavities of dark place. They are more prone to swarming and absconding. Indian bee produce yield of 3-5 Kg of honey per colony/year.
