NATURAL NEST CHARACTERISTICS OF APIS MELLIFERA JEMENITICA (HYMENOPTERA; APIDAE) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN FRAME HIVE ADOPTION

N. Adgaba1*, A. A. Al-Ghamdi1, A. Getachew1, Y. Tadesse1, A. Almaktary1, M. J. Ansari1, M. Al-Madani2 and D. Sharma1

1Eng. Abdullah Baqshan Chair for Bee Research, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Food and Agricultural Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460 Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
2Northern Highlands Regional Research Station, Agricultural Research & Extension Authority, Sa`adah, P.O Box 90225, Republic of Yemen
* Corresponding author E-mail: nuruadgaba@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Apis mellefera jemenitica is the smallest race of A. mellifera both in its body and colony sizes. In the current study we assessed the natural nest volume, workers brood cell dimensions and bee space of the race through measuring their dimensions from naturally built combs in log hives. The optimum box hive volume and surface area requirement were assessed by keeping colonies at different volumes of frame hives with four replications each and monitored for a period of one year. The average occupied nest volume and comb surface area of the race in log hives were 12.28 ± 5.98 l and 8017.2 ± 3110.60 cm2 respectively which are significantly smaller than other A. mellifera races. The worker brood cells width and depth of the race were 4.07 ± 0.17 mm and 9.39 ± 0.42 mm respectively and the race builds an average of 262.5 more worker brood cells/dm2 than is built on embossed foundation sheets. The race maintains an average of 7.27 ± 1.35 mm bee space and naturally builds 30% more combs per unit length than other races. Based on the performances of colonies, box hives with seven standard frames were found to be the optimum for the race in the region. The study indicates the importance of designing box hives and accessories that match with the natural nest volumes, their body and colony sizes which may contribute to enhance the productivity of the race.
Key words: A.m. jemenitica, nest-volume, bee-space, brood cell dimensions.