Bee Health and Productivity in Apis mellifera, a Consequence of Multiple Factors

Abstract

Managed honeybees play an important role as pollinators. The health and nutritional condition of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) depends for an important part on management practices, and it is influenced by multiple factors. This study aims to identify the stressors that lead to the loss of honeybee health and its consequences on the colony’s productivity. Different aspects related to management practices, productivity, clinical observations related to diseases, presence of sanitary gaps in the apiaries, colony strength, weather and infestation rates by Varroa sp. mites were measured. The information was collected during two monitoring in 53 apiaries in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. The results show correlations among many of the management practices, health condition and yield. The most important factors affecting the productivity of the studied honeybee colonies were nuclei preparation, the number of combs in the brood chamber, change of bee queen, disinfection of beekeeping material, among other less significant ones. Although honey production is important in the region, the colony strength was deficient and inadequate during both monitoring. Due to its dependence on management by the beekeeper, it is suggested that a holistic approach could improve bee health, increasing the productivity of honeybees.

Evaluation of Honey Production for Industry Purposes, The Case of Beekeeping with Apis Mellifera in Indonesia After The Covid-19 Pandemic

“…This can be seen from the level of colony productivity in Sumatra, which averages around 29 kg/colony/year. This level of productivity is relatively high when compared with the level of colony productivity in Argentina, one of the largest honey exporting countries in the world and number 1 in South America, which nationally averages 25 kg/colony/year (Olate-Olave et al, 2021). Differences in the abundance of beeforages have a massive role in determining differences in colony productivity.…”

“…Differences in the abundance of beeforages have a massive role in determining differences in colony productivity. According to Olate-Olave et al (2021), citing Farrar (1937, productivity is determined by the quantity and duration of nectar flow.…”

Bridging the Gap between Field Experiments and Machine Learning: The EC H2020 B-GOOD Project as a Case Study towards Automated Predictive Health Monitoring of Honey Bee Colonies

“…In the past two decades, beekeepers that manage colonies of Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) have become increasingly troubled by colony losses caused by problems affecting the bees' health, such as parasites, pathogens, reduction in floral resources, and exposure to pesticides. The constant crisis status caused by large and unsustainable honey bee colony losses has pushed beekeepers to continually monitor those losses throughout each season and over the winter, and also to identify potential risk factors that are generally analyzed in surveillance studies [7][8][9][10][11][12], or by experimental colony exposure [13][14][15][16]. Understanding the causes and mechanisms behind these colony losses is essential to preventing them and reversing this crisis.…”

Increased survival of honey bees consuming pollen and beebread is associated with elevated biomarkers of oxidative stress

“…This issue has drawn particular attention to identifying factors that negatively affect honey bee health, and it is believed that poor nutrition may be one of them. A deficiency or a disturbed composition of dietary components can weaken the resistance of bees to stressors of abiotic and biotic nature and make them more sensitive to adverse weather conditions, infectious diseases, and the effects of environmental contaminants (Brodschneider and Crailsheim, 2010;Goulson et al, 2015;Tosi et al, 2017;Ptaszyńska et al, 2018;Wright et al, 2018;Branchiccela et al, 2019;Dolezal et al, 2019;Negri et al, 2019;Tong et al, 2019;Olate-Olave et al, 2021).…”