Apiculture, often known as beekeeping, is a type of activity that entails nurturing and caring for bees in order to get bee products such as beeswax, honey, royal jelly, flower pollen, and bee pollen. Apiculture, in general, refers to the care of bees of the genus APIs rather than honeybees. In apiculture, however, even non-stinging bees are kept for preservation. In human-managed bee colonies, for example, stingless bees such as Melipona are raised for honey production. An apiarist or beekeeper is a person who has been given the task of collecting honey from bees.
What is Apiculture / Beekeeping?
Apiculture or Beekeeping is the care and management of honeybee colonies. They are raised for honey and other products, as pollinators of fruit and vegetable flowers, or as a passion. Honey Bees are kept in big towns and villages, farms and rangelands, woodlands and deserts, and from the Arctic and Antarctic to the Equator. Honeybees have never been domesticated. Those who live in a man-made home known as a beehive or hive are no different than those who live in a tree colony.
Apiculture-Obtained Products
As we all know, honey is the primary product of apiculture. Other useful outcomes of beekeeping are also obtained.
- Honey: Honey is a sweet and edible fluid that includes nutrients such as sugar, water, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and even pollen in small amounts. Calcium, iron, manganese, and phosphate are minerals found in honey. Pantothenic acid, Biotin, Pyridoxine, Choline, Ascorbic acid, Thiamine, Riboflavin, and Niacin are some of the vitamins present in it. The flavour and odour of honey are influenced by the flowers from which nectar is harvested. Honey is also a high-energy meal.
- Bee wax: Bee wax is the wax gland secretion of worker bees. It has an extremely high melting point. Bee wax is beneficial to humans in a variety of ways, including the production of cold creams, cosmetics, shaving cream, ointments, lipsticks, polishes, and so on.
- Propolis: Other important apiculture products include propolis and balms. These can be used to repair the comb. Propolis, often known as bee glue, is formed by blending saliva and beeswax with exudate from tree buds or sap flows. Propolis is used to fill gaps in beehives. Its colour is dark brown, however it might vary according to the botanical origin of the plant. They become sticky over 20 degrees Celsius and hard and brittle at lower temperatures.
- Royal jelly: Royal jelly is a milky fluid produced by worker honeybees. Proteins, vitamins, sugar, lipids, water, salts, and amino acids are all found in royal jelly. Because bees use this food to raise queen bees, it is known as royal jelly. Royal jelly, like honey, has medicinal characteristics and may be used to manufacture a variety of homoeopathic and ayurvedic remedies.
- Bee venom: Bee venom is the poison produced by bees that causes bee stings to be painful. Bee venom, like other products, has medicinal characteristics and is used to treat rheumatism, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and other ailments.
Common types of bees
Beekeepers primarily care for bee species whose names begin with “Apis,” as they are the only bee species that make honey. The following are some of the most commonly farmed honey bee species:
- Apis dorsata: It is sometimes known as the rock bee. It is a massive bee that generates around 38 to 40 kilograms of honey per colony.
- Apis indica: It is sometimes known as the Indian bee. It is easily cultivated and is most usually used to produce honey. Honey yields 2 to 5 kg per colony each year.
- Apis florea: It is also known as the tiny bee. It rarely stings, and therefore making honey harvest from its hive is simple. Each colony generates roughly 1 kilogramme of honey every year.
- Apis mellifera: It is often known as the Italian bee. This species has a highly characteristic dance routine to indicate food availability, and it stings less than the small bee.
Apiculture’s Importance
Because of the numerous advantages of honey and beeswax, apiculture has been done professionally as a business. The following are some of the most important applications for honey and other apiculture products:
- Honey has been proven to be highly beneficial in the treatment of a variety of human digestive diseases, diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach or liver illnesses.
- Honey is said to be a blood purifier, as well as a remedy for coughs and colds, sore throats, and ulcers of the tongue, stomach, and intestine.
- Cosmetics, lotions, and ointments include bee wax.
- Royal jelly is used as a stimulating tonic.
- Propolis is an antibiotic-rich health supplement.
- Bee venom is used to treat rheumatism, arthritis, and some central nervous system disorders.
- Because honeybee venom includes a protein combination, it can kill the AIDS virus.
- Honeybees are responsible for pollination, which leads to an increase in the production of numerous plants.
Conclusion
Apiculture, often known as beekeeping, is a type of activity that entails nurturing and caring for bees in order to get bee products such as beeswax, honey, royal jelly, flower pollen, and bee pollen. Apiculture, in general, refers to the care of bees of the genus APIs rather than honeybees. Apiculture or Beekeeping is the care and management of honeybee colonies. Honey Bees are kept in big towns and villages, farms and rangelands, woodlands and deserts, and from the Arctic and Antarctic to the Equator. The flavour and odour of honey are influenced by the flowers from which nectar is harvested. Bee wax is the wax gland secretion of worker bees.