Local bees adapt to Japanese-designed hives

A group of researchers has successfully employed Japanese-designed boxes for honeybee adaptation.

Hiving the Trigona biroi Friese, a stingless bee abundant in Bicol, in the Japanese-designed boxes resulted in high survival and low absconding of 16 feral colonies transferred. A study was conducted to determine the potentials of T. biroi as effective crop pollinators in glasshouse during temperate conditions. In Japan, this bee is seen as a potential pollinator of crops grown in glasshouses during winter.

According to Ma. Dulce J. Mostoles and Raul B. Ruiz, researchers at Camarines Sur State Agricultural College and Kazuhiro Amano of the Laboratory of Apiculture, National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, if found feasible, this bee can open doors for potential market of packaged bees to Japan. This is a plus for the Bicolanos who could invest more in the export of not only honey but pollinators as well.

The researchers reported that acceptability of the hive boxes was measured by using survival of bees, absence of absconding, and development of the colony. The researchers noted that development of the bee colonies was slow in the three-story boxes while relatively faster in the two-story boxes.

The study recommends further beekeeping tests in glasshouse during winter and subsequent studies on harvesting pollen and honey without destroying the brood.

In Japan, pollination of crops in glasshouses during winter uses stingless bees in promising thermo-equipped hives. As pollinators, stingless bees are safer since they are harmless to beekeepers and farmers. These bees also visit a wide range of crops year round in the tropics and do not pose environmental risks by escaping into natural habitats since they are intolerant to cold weather, thus considered inflexible tropicopolitan.

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) was one of the evaluators of the project during its presentation at the Bicol Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Research and Development’s (R&D) Regional Symposium on R&D Highlights held recently in Guinobatan, Albay. — Ma. Rowena M. Baltazar, S&T Media Service