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Honeybee Colony Management Practices and Identification of Honeybee Floras in Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia
Abstract
The art and science of managing and breeding honeybee colonies in the artificial hive for the sake of the economy are known as beekeeping or apiculture. It contributes to the increment of food and cash crop products through pollination services and protects and stabilizes fragile environments. The sector depends on floras to survive and produce honeybee products. Those plants were categorized as either nectar or pollen or both depending on their content. Assess the honeybee colony management practice and identification of honeybee flora intended to document the indigenous knowledge for the establishment of the best management decisions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the honeybee colony management practices and identify the honeybee floras in eastern Amhara, Ethiopia. This study was conducted in the selected district of eastern Amhara based on the relative suitability and potential for beekeeping. A questionary survey was conducted for 122 beekeepers. Additionally, key informant interviews and honey pollen analysis were performed to support the questionary survey. The result of this study showed the beekeeper farmers had trouble with seasonal feed shortages for their honeybee colonies besides absconding and swarming were also prominent in the area. Furthermore, this study revealed that about 104 bee flora species were identified, which include shrubs, trees, herbs, and crops with the major proportion of shrubs. Most honeybee floras were perennial plants. Additionally, the seasonal bee forage fluctuation could be categorized into dearth, moderate, and honey flow season. The dearth period occurred from January-March and July-August. The moderate period was from April-June, and the honey flow period was from September-November. Therefore, seasonal management of the colonies should be adjusted with the dearth periods. Further study must be done about the frequency and density of the honeybee plants.
Keywords:
Floral calendar, Honeybee flora, Honeybees, Seasonal management, SpeciesINTRODUCTION
Beekeeping or apiculture is the art and science of breeding and managing honeybee colonies in artificial hives for economic benefits (Yusuf et al., 2014; Mazorodze, 2015; Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019; Alebachew et al., 2020; Wakgari et al., 2021). In Ethiopia, beekeeping is one of the essential farming sectors. It contributes to the country̓s economy through export earnings. Among the export commodities of agricultural products, both honey and beeswax have their contribution. Moreover, beekeeping stabilizes and protects the fragile environment and increases the production of agricultural food and cash crops through pollination services from honeybees (Teferi, 2018; Bihonegn and Begna, 2021).
Ethiopia has a long beekeeping tradition (Alebachew et al., 2020). The economic value of the pollination service in Ethiopia agriculture through animal pollinators and the vulnerability of agriculture due to lack of pollinators was estimated at USD 815.2 million and 16%, respectively, in the 2015/16 crop production season. Hence, the economic benefit of the pollination service of the honeybee was projected 4.58-fold greater than the honey production (Alebachew, 2018).
Beekeeping is a floral-based industry, and honeybees depend on it for their food (Begum et al., 2021; Wakgari et al., 2021). Plants are categorized as nectar sources based on honeybee̓s activity of extending their tongue into the flowers to gather nectar. When honeybees are collecting pollen with their hind legs, those plants are pollen source plants (Portman et al., 2019; Begum et al., 2021). Nectar source plants are used for honey making, and pollen source plants are important in providing pollen as a major component of larval food which is vital in colony reproduction (Begum et al., 2021; Shegaw and Giorgis, 2021). The favorable and diversified agroecological conditions of Ethiopia have been endowed with over 7000 plant species, which support foraging bees and many other insects (Berhe et al., 2016; Teferi, 2018; Shuma and Dinsa, 2020). The diversified flowering plants in Ethiopia and their blooming season greatly vary from place to place; this enables the country to sustain many honeybee colonies (Adal et al., 2015; Tesfaye et al., 2017; Olana and Demrew, 2019).
Identification of honeybee flora aimed to document major and minor honeybee floral resource plant species for the establishment of the floral calendar for ease of honeybee colonies management (Jenberie et al., 2016). Since there is no information yet on the documentation and description of honeybee floras in easter Amhara, this study aimed to illustrate honeybee colony management practices, and identify honeybee florals in eastern Amhara for future improvement and design of honeybee management options.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. Study area
The study was conducted in three districts of the eastern Amhara, namely, Dawa Chefa, Ambasel, and Meket districts (shown in Fig. 1). Dawa Chefa district is located at 10°43ʹ N latitude and 39°52ʹ E longitude. The altitude of the area ranges from 1500 to 2300 m.a.s.l. The rainfall distribution is highly seasonal and temporal variations. It has two main rainy periods in a year i.e., from February to March (short rainy season) and from July to September (main rainy season). The predominant production system in this area is mixed crop-livestock farming (Amakelew et al., 2015).
Ambasel district is a part of the South Wollo zone. It is located at 11°31ʹ05ʺN and 39°36ʹ34ʺE with an elevation of about 3500 m a.s.l. It receives a mean annual rainfall of 500-800 mm in a bimodal pattern. The long rainy period ranges from June to September and is followed by a dry season ranging from October to February; the short rainy season lasts from March to May the average temperature is 19℃ (Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019). Meket district is one of the districts in the north Wollo of Amhara region with elevations ranging from about 1200 m a.s.l. at the northwestern-most point to over 3000 m a.s.l. along the eastern part of its southern border (Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019). It is located at 11°46ʹ4.2ʺN and 38°44ʹ9ʺE.
2. Site selection and data collection
From potential beekeeping districts of the eastern Amhara, three representative districts were selected purposefully. From each district, two-three sampling kebeles (the smallest administrative unit), a total of 8 sampling kebeles were selected based on vegetation cover and altitude difference (highland, midland, and lowland to represent the major agro-ecologies) for questionnaire survey, floral identification, and honey sample collection. The questionnaire was administered to the randomly selected beekeepers in the study areas. A total of 122 beekeeper respondents have been interviewed from three districts.
Key informants (such as kebele level livestock production experts, and district level apiculture experts) were interviewed about honeybee colony management practices and bee flora issues based on the questionnaire. Moreover, to strengthen the questionnaire survey, field observation has been made on the nature and habit of plants, feed sources, and duration of flowering. The identified honeybee floras sample were collected and taken to the laboratory for further determination of scientific name and the biological characteristics with the help of a botanist. Furthermore, the local name and scientific name of the honeybee floras were confirmed with the picture and other information from Natural Database for Africa (NDA) software version 2.0 and a book authored by Bekele and Tengnäs (2007).
3. Honey pollen analysis techniques
To verify the identification, honey samples were collected from farmgate during the harvesting season and analyzed for pollen composition (Adgaba et al., 2020; Layek et al., 2020). Following the methodology of Louveaux et al. (1978), and Sawyer (1988) with some modification, honey pollen analysis was carried out using 10 honey samples collected from each kebeles. For ease of identification of pollen from honey samples, reference slides were prepared from a collected flower bud during the flowering periods in the area. The collected flowers were air-dried and stored until the laboratory work. The collected data were analyzed and presented in percentage and table forms.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Characteristics of the respondents
About 95.1% of the respondents were household heads, of which 91% were male household heads and only 9% were female. Age had its effect on their social, economic, and working interactions (Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019). Hence, the majority age of the respondent beekeepers was between 36 and 45 (30.6%) which is the most productive age group, followed by 46-54 (26.2%), 18-35 (24.6%), 55-65 (12.3%), and older than 65 (5.7%). Similarly, a study on the beekeeper youth group indicated that the majority (71%) of the member were above the age of 29 (Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019).
Education is an important entry point for the fast transfer of knowledge on improved beekeeping technologies. Moreover, the educational level of the farming households may have significant importance in the determination of the type of development and the extension of needed services (Mujuni et al., 2012; Amulen et al., 2017; Alebachew and Eshetie, 2019; Bihonegn et al., 2021; Mulatu et al., 2021). Hence, most of the respondent̓s education levels ranged from reading and writing to grade eight. Similar results were reported by Abejew and Zeleke (2017). However, about 29.5% were illiterate.
Alebachew and Eshetie (2019) distinguished that most of the honey production comes from the traditional hive (cylindrical shaped local hive) with notable numbers of empty hives on the youth beekeeper’s hand. Similarly, in this study, about 53.3% and 24.9% of the respondents have 1-2 and 3-14 traditional hives with honeybee colonies, respectively, whereas about 23% of the respondents have traditional hives without honeybee colonies. About 75.5% of the respondents have transitional hives (Kenyan top bar hives) without honeybee colonies and only about 24.5% have transitional hives with honeybee colonies. Additionally, only 50% of the respondents have modern frame hives (Langstroth hive) with honeybee colonies, while the rest 50% of the respondents had modern frame hives without honeybee colonies.
The beekeeping experience has a positive correlation with the usage of improved beekeeping technologies and has indigenous knowledge to identify honeybee races, behavior, and productivities (Abejew and Zeleke, 2017). In this study, most of the respondents (about 45.1%) have beekeeping experience of more than 15 years (Table 1), a similar result was reported by Abejew and Zeleke (2017).
2. Basic honeybee management practices
Knowledge of honeybee flora across seasons is vital to utilize or supplement if there is a shortage. In this study, most of the respondents (82.8%) noticed the problem of feed shortage. The more series months of the year where feed shortage occurs were given in Table 2. About 58.6% of respondent beekeepers, provide additional feed for their bee colonies during the feed shortage period. Of which 44.1% of respondents have used sugar syrup as the supplementary feed, while, about 26.5% of the respondents were separately fed sugar syrup, roasted wheat flour, and roasted barley flour for their honeybee colonies. The rest 29.4% of respondents fed the combination of roasted chickpea flour, roasted bean flour, and roasted chickpea flour for their honeybee colonies during the dearth period.
The honeybee colonies̓ dynamics were varied based on several factors such as management and season. About 86.6% of respondents have noticed the problem of colony absconding. Of those respondents, 23.3% lost at least one honeybee colony in each production year. The rest 20.4%, 15.5%, and 42.1% of the respondents experienced losses of about 2, 3, and 4 honeybee colonies, respectively. Months from April to June were the seasons when higher honeybee colony abscond occurred, whereas from October to December and from January to March lower abscond was observed (Table 3).
The most important reasons for the absconding of honeybee colonies were poor honeybee management, especially for frame hives (49%), shortage of feed (22%), and others (29.2%). Lemma et al. (2016) report that the absconding may be due to frequent disturbances, pest attacks shortage of bee forage, lack of bee shelter, and generally poor management.
At the same time, about 37.5% of colonies swarmed in their apiaries, and the rest 62.5% did not. Of those who have got reproductive swarm, the majorities 45.2% have only one reproductive swarm and about 28.6% have got two. Three and above were about 26.2%. This is maybe due to the tropical honeybees having high reproductive swarming impulses and tendencies (Alemu et al., 2014; Lemma et al., 2016; Abejew and Zeleke, 2017; Dubale, 2017). The respondents noted that the major reasons for swarming were a type of management (33.3%), type of vegetation and pollen availability (41.2%), instinct behavior of the colony (7.8%), and small hive volume (3.9%), and others (13.7%).
Most respondents (75%) transfer their honeybee colonies from traditional hives to the modern or transitional hives from July to September, some (13.4%) in April to June and others (11.6%) in October to December. The reason for the selection of transferring period is the availability of flowers about 77.6%, and other reasons about 22.4%. About 90.7% of honey is harvested in October-December, followed by April-June (3.4%). Rarely, it is also harvested in July-September, and January-March (5.1%).
Honey production and productivity depend on various factors including the type of the honeybee races, agroecology, weather conditions, the availability of flora, health status, and strength of the colonies (Lemma et al., 2016). Hence, the respondent beekeeper farmers harvest honey from the three types of hives, i.e., traditional, transitional, and modern hives. In this study, they have harvested honey from traditional hives in the range of 2 to 35 kg with an average of 8.15 kg annually. About 76% of respondents have harvested honey from transitional hives from 20 to 30 kg. About 65.3% of respondents have harvested from 4 to 50 kg of honey from modern hives. Lemma et al. (2016) reported that the mean honey yield per harvest per frame hive was 15.2 kg at the Wag-Himra zone using experimental colonies.
The frequency of honey harvest ranges from one to three times per annum. About 56.9% of the respondents were harvested twice a year, about 33.6% harvested once, and the remaining 9.5% harvested three times a year. About 88.5% of the respondents classify their honey, and 11.5% do not. The parameters to classify their honey was color (70.1%), taste (9.3%), plant sources (1.9%), and both colors of the honey and plant sources were 18.7%.
3. Identified honeybee floras in eastern Amhara
Due to its favorable climatic conditions and edaphic factors, a wide range of species of cultivated and uncultivated honey plants that comprise herbaceous, shrubs, and trees are grown in Ethiopia (Ejigu et al., 2017). About 104 plant species were identified as honeybee floras either pollen or nectar source or both, and some can be propolis sources like Tid (Juniperus species). Of which about 15 (14.4%), 21 (20.2%), 39 (37.5%), and 29 (27.8%) were domesticated cultivated crops, wild herbs (including grass and legume), shrubs, and tree plants, respectively, this result was summarized in Table 4 and the details of each flora were explained in Table 7. Hence, a lower number of bee flora species were reported by Jenberie et al. (2016), which was a total of 80 honeybee floral resource plant species (composed of 7.5% grasses, 21.25% herbs, 41.25% shrubs, and 30% trees) in the Wag-Lasta area of the Amhara Region.
The number of identified bee flora species was lower than Ejigu et al. (2017), who found a total of 290 important bee plant species in the Western Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Besides, in this study, about 23 (22.1%) were annuals, while 81 (76.2%) were also perennials bee forages. Shrubs were the dominant honeybee plants followed by trees, herbs, and domesticated crops, respectively. This may be because shrubs grow in different land-use systems, including steep mountainous areas with shower rain in a short period (Jenberie et al., 2016). Additionally, about 61.7% of respondents plant honeybee floras around their apiaries site, but 38.3% did not. The source of such plant seedling is government nurseries (47.6%), other sources (30.2%), private nurseries (9.5%), and a combination of one or two of the above sources (7.9%).
Honeybee floras are a source of either pollen or nectar or both. If those plants are easily propagated (such as higher rates of seed germination, a short time from sowing to blooming, and grown in poor fertile soil), they are more advantageous for the beekeeping sector. According to the respondent beekeepers, the easiest propagative floras in decreasing order were Zea mays, Guizotia abyssinica, Sorghum bicolor, Eucalyptus species, Cordia africana, Acacia abyssinica, Guizotia scabra, Carissa edulis, Croton macrostachya, Coffea arabica, Helianthus annuus, Zizyphus spynachristus, Lantana camara, Sesamum indicum, Ehretia cymosa, Citrus sinensis and Brassica niger in Dawa Chefa district; Guizotia scabra, Vicia sativa, Schinus molle, Bidens pachyloma, Helianthus annuus, Cordia africana, Euclea racemosa, and Eucalyptus species in Meket district as well as Euphorbia abyssinica, Euphorbia tirucalli, Agave americana, Eucalyptus species, Acacia abyssinica, Aloe berhana, Cordia africana, Ehretia cymosa in Ambasel district.
In giving flower for a longer period, Eucalyptus species, Acacia abyssinica, Cordia africana, Carissa edulis, Zea mays, Zizyphus spynachristus, Coffea arabica, Helianthus annuus, Guizotia abyssinica, Grevillea robusta, Citrus sinensis, Musa x-paradisiaca, Carica papaya, Croton macrostachya, and Mangifera indica has been selected in Dawa Chefa district, Bidens pachyloma, Eucalyptus species, Croton macrostachya, Acacia abyssinica, Schinus molle, Guizotia scabra, Guizotia scabra, Vicia sativa, Guizotia abyssinica, Helianthus annuus, and Cordia africana has been selected in Meket district, as well as Euphorbia tirucalli, Eucalyptus species, Schinus molle, Acacia abyssinica, Cordia africana, Acacia brevispica, Erica arborea, Agave sisalana, Typha genus in Ambasel district.
When the frequency of giving flowers more than once in a year is concerned, Eucalyptus species, Acacia abyssinica, Cordia africana, Croton macrostachya, Zea mays, Acacia brevispica, Musa x-paradisiaca, Pterrolobium stellatum, Guizotia abyssinica, Ehretia cymosa, Zizyphus spynachristus, Citrus sinensis, Coffea arabica, Schinus molle, Trifolium rueppellianum, Sorghum bicolor, Carissa edulis, Typha genus, Helianthus annuus were mentioned in Dawa Chefa district. In Meket district, Bidens pachyloma, Cordia africana, Trifolium rueppellianum, Guizotia scabra, Vicia sativa, Croton macrostachya, Euclea racemosa, Acacia abyssinica, Eucalyptus species, Helianthus annuus were flower more than once in a year. Eucalyptus species, Schinus molle, Cordia africana, Ehretia cymosa, Pterolobium stellatum, Lippia adoensis, and Aloe berhana were flowered more than once a year in the Ambasel district.
The honeybee flora sources used as major sources of honey and pollen production in Dawa Chefa district were Cordia africana, Eucalyptus species, Acacia abyssinica, Zea mays, Guizotia abyssinica, Sorghum bicolor, Carissa edulis, Citrus sinensis, Croton macrostachya, Coffea arabica, Ehretia cymosa, Mangifera indica, Helianthus annuus, Guizotia scabra, Rersea americana, Zizyphus spynachristus, Citrus aruntifolia, Brassica niger, Lippia adoensis, and Grevillea robusta.
In Meket district, Cordia africana, Bidens pachyloma, Schinus molle, Guizotia scabra, Vicia sativa, Euclea racemosa, Helianthus annuus, Eucalyptus species, Croton macrostachya, Acacia abyssinica, Cicer arietinum, Euphorbia tirucalli, Lippia adoensis, Trifolium rueppellianum, and Sorghum bicolor were the major honey source plants. Whereas in Ambasel district, Cordia africana, Eucalyptus species, Euphorbia tirucalli, Pterolobium stellatum, Euclea racemosa, Zizyphus spynachristus, Bidens pachyloma, Acacia abyssinica, Guizotia scabra, Croton macrostachys, Erica arborea, Rhus natalensis, Hypoestes triflora, Lippia adoensis, Carissa edulis, Ehretia cymosa, and Euphorbia abyssinica were selected honey sources.
Bareke and Addi (2019), and Adgaba et al. (2017) noted that characterizing the flowering calendar of the area is an important tool for effective management of the honeybee colonies. Hence, this study revealed that there were floras that give flowers from three days to a year-round. According to the respondents, the major flowering seasons for the flora were identified based on prolonged floral periods, and the largest abundant and values were given ranges from one to five for each month of the year, one for the lowest and five for the highest flowering month (Table 5).
Based on the total values for each month, three classifications can be made for the sake of honeybee colonies management. The result in Table 1 indicates that a severe dearth period occurred starting from January-March due to flower shade, July-August also due to over rain that washes nectar and pollen of the floras. This indicates intensive feeding is an essential management option during these months. Moderate period, from April to June, and December, during this period moderate level feeding in is essential. Honey flow period, during this period, there was ample bee flora. This period extends from September to November. This was the honey harvesting season. Similar bee flora flowering pattern was reported in the Wag-Lasta area, Amhara Region (Jenberie et al., 2016).
Honey pollen analysis is important to identify the major and minor flora in the area and to authenticate the beekeeping farmer’s knowledge and experience in the identification of honeybee floral resource plants (Jenberie et al., 2016). According to the honey pollen analysis result, there were different pollen sources of flowering plant species for each district and sampling site. Table 6 indicates the honey pollen analysis result for each district and sampling site.
Plants were used for the fumigation/ smoking of the hive to attract honeybees as baiting and maintaining the colony in the hive. It is also important for disinfecting the hive from previously contaminant agents including honeybee pests and diseases. The smoking process may take hours with every ten minutes of smoking, the hive sprayed with a small amount of water. The process ends up when the hive internal becomes gray color and has attractive smells.
The best-selected honeybee floras used for hive smoking in Dawa Chefa were Carissa edulis, Lippia adoensis, Flacourtia indica, Rosa abyssincia, Olea europaea, and Ocimum americanum, whereas the best honey producing flora such as Cordia africana, Acacia abyssinica, Eucalyptus species, Zea mays, Guizotia abyssinica, Croton macrostachys, Coffea arabica, Ehretia cymosa, Mangifera indica, Citrus sinensis, Helianthus annuus, Sorghum bicolor, and Guizotia scabra were ranked as poor hive smoking plant.
In Meket district, Syzygium guineense was the only better hive smoking plant, and others such as Cordia Africana, Helianthus annuus, Guizotia scabra, Acacia abyssinica, Eucalyptus species, and Schinus molle were ranked as poor hive smoking. In Ambasel district, Lippia adoensis, Olea europaea, Lippia adoensis, and Dodonaea angustifolia were the best hive smoking plant species for the hive, but Cordia africana, Carissa edulis, Croton macrostachyus, Euphorbia abyssinica, Typha genus, Eucalyptus species, Acacia abyssinica, Ehretia cymosa, Euclea racemosa, Pterolobium stellatum, Euphorbia tirucalli, Schinus molle, Aleo brahana, Cyperus longus, Erica arborea, Agave sisalana, Zizyphus spynachristus, and Bidens pachyloma were ranked as poor hive smoking plants.
CONCLUSION
This questionary survey and honey pollen analysis study revealed that there were varieties of honeybee floras in the study area. About 104 bee flora species were identified inhabiting shrubs, trees, herbs, and domesticated crops with the major proportion of shrubs. Most honeybee floras were perennial plants. Most of the respondent beekeepers were in the productive age group. The respondent beekeepers experienced a high honeybee colony absconding and swarming rate due to multiple factors. They also harvest honey from the traditional, transitional, and modern types of hives. Additionally, there was seasonal bee forage fluctuation. Therefore, seasonal management of the colonies should be adjusted with flowering periods of identified major honeybee floras in the study areas. Hence, starting from January-March and July-August, intensive feeding to the honeybee colonies is essential. Additionally, from April-June, moderately feeding the honeybees is crucial for the survival of the colony and better honey production for the coming honey flow season. Protecting and conserving those potential honeybee floras from extinction is an indispensable role for the bee sector and the overall environment. Further study is needed about the frequency and density of the honeybee floras. Additionally, screening and propagation of potential honeybee floras should be done for multiplication and distribution to the beekeepers.
Acknowledgments
The authors want to express our humble, sincere gratitude to the beekeeper, zone, district, and kebele level livestock production experts who contributed to this paper. Next, we are grateful to Mr. Endayehu Mulat, who made the study area map.
FUNDING STATEMENT
This work was funded by Amhara Agricultural Research Institute.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
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