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Studies on characterization and behavior of the stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith with biochemical properties of its honey

KrishiKosh

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Title Studies on characterization and behavior of the stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith with biochemical properties of its honey
 
Creator Singh, Pooja
 
Contributor Khan, M.S.
 
Subject characterization, honey bees, Tetragonula iridipennis, biochemistry, honey
 
Description The investigations were carried out during 2012-14 at G.B.P.U.A & T. Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India, on the characterization and behaviour of stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith along with biochemical properties of its honey. The morphology/morphometric studies revealed characteristics distinguish feature in three castes that is drone has 10 segmented flagellum while worker and queen bees had 9 segmented flagellum and the mandibles were bi-dentate in drone and tri-dentate in worker and queen bees along with the significant difference in body length which was maximum in queen (7.05 mm) followed by worker (3.85 mm) and drone (3.62 mm), respectively. Under the molecular characterization in stingless bee, T. iridipennis, the highest genetic similarity (0.865) was found between the population of Pantnagar and Lalkoun, while the lowest (0.543) between Veerbhatti and Haridwar. Comparative study of foraging activity in one queenright and one queenless colony of T. iridipennis showed no significant difference in number of outgoing forager bees and resin collecting bees per 5min while pollen collecting bees was more active in queenless colony whereas nectar collecting and cleaner bees was more active in queenright colony. Also a total 61 different pollen morphs were observed in study, out of which 9 were identified as (Bougainvillea peruviana, Brassica spp., Trianthema portulacastrum, Phlox drummondii, Callistemon spp., Acrolinum roseum, Dahalia spp., Hibiscus rosasinensis, Luffa spp.) The thermoregulation studies during April-May revealed that T. iridipennis did not seem to have ability to regulate nest temperature. The temperature inside the hive was found to be 1.91°C, 3.51°C and 0.54°C lower than outside ambient temperature at 8.00 am, 12.00 pm and 4.00 pm, respectively. These studies further indicated that the bees maintain hygienic conditions inside the hive and took 105-180 min for complete exclusion of all 50 dead bee’s body parts and also removed all 10 pin killed brood cells including dead larvae/pupae inside after 24 hrs. While in newly hived colony, bees continued cleaning for 13 days and expelled out185 dead adult bees and 43 young bees from colony. The bees found to construct the brood cell as cell cup base, half constructed and nearly constructed cell per day at the rate of 10.70 per cent, 14.36 per cent and 74.94 per cent, respectively. In the month of June, drone congregation was observed on tree Pride of India, Lagerstroemia indica having minimum no. of drones at 8.00 am and maximum at 11.00 am – 3.00 pm while no activity was observed after 6.00 pm. In a hived colony, about 100-120 superfluous queen cells were observed. Evaluation of acceptance of artificial storage cups by bees showed that bees respond immediately to all 390 cups of 5 mm dia (for pollen + honey storage), 195 cups of 5 mm dia (for honey storage) and 442 cups of 8 mm dia (for honey storage). Majority of cups were removed by bees, however the bees accepted 2 installed cups of 5mm dia propolis cup (sealed on 5th day after installation) and 8mm dia propolis cups (sealed on 13th day after installation). The studies showed good possibilities of using artificial storage cups in stingless bees colonies which in turn will improve the harvesting process of its honey. Evaluation of toxicity of botanicals revealed that both garlic oil and neem oil showed highest toxicity (90%) followed by Azwain oil (86.67 %), Jatropha oil (83.35%), Emamectin (83.34 %) and NSKE (70 %) on 72h after treatment for stingless bee, T. iridipennis and for A. mellifera, Garlic oil showed highest toxicity (100%) followed by neem oil (93.34%), NSKE (90%), Azwain oil and Emamectin (83.34%), Jatropha oil (76.67%) on 72h after treatment. In study of chemical properties of four honey types (A. mellifera, A. dorsata, A. cerana and T. Iridipennis honey), the T. iridipennis honey showed highest ash content (0.52%), E. C. (1.56 mS/cm), DN (18.48), moisture content (25.11 %), fructose (41.28%) and maltose (12.78%) than in Apis honey, while showed the lowest values for pH (3.62), glucose (20.91%) and HMF (2.07mg/kg) than in Apis honey. The T. iridipennis honey has 0.125% insoluble matter, 1.61%sucrose and 28.1 meq/kg total acidity (8.1 meq/kg lactone acidity and 20 meq/kg free acidity).Mean content (μg/ml ) of minerals for T. iridipennis honey were: Zn 0.210, Ar 44.12, Fe 1.61, Mn 0.302, Ni 0.109, Mg 2.351, Ca 4.228, Cr 0.511, Cu 0.167, B 0.505, Pb 0.562, Hg 6.0, and also the stingless bee honey showed maximum antimicrobial activity against Alternaria alternata (IZ: 13.669 mm) followed by Fusarium solani (IZ: 12.867 mm), Sclerotonia sclerotiorum (IZ: 11.568 mm) and Pseudomonas syringae (IZ: 10.939 mm), respectively while Ethanolic Extract of Propolis (EEP) showed maximum antimicrobial activity against Alternaria alternata (IZ: 18.803 mm), followed by Pseudomonas syringae (IZ: 16.80 mm), Colletotrichum lagenarium (IZ: 16.766 mm), Sclerotonia sclerotiorum (IZ: 15.787 mm) Fusarium solani (IZ: 15.467 mm) and Rhizoctonia solani (IZ: 12.665 mm), respectively.
 
Date 2016-12-05T14:53:56Z
2016-12-05T14:53:56Z
2015-07
 
Type Thesis
 
Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/89211
 
Language en
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)