Brood rearing efficiency in indigenous honeybee Apis cerana in Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The present study on brood rearing efficiency was conducted at Katrain in Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh, India, situated at 32.10 N and 77.20 E longitude with an altitude of 1473 m amsl. The field experiments at Katrain, Kullu showed 20 to 100 per cent variations in per cent brood survival rate during different periods of observation. Studies on brood rearing efficiency revealed that per cent adult emergence on egg basis during the months of March and August averaged to 55.22 and 61.22 respectively. The per cent adult emergence from sealed brood was observed to be 70.08 + 22.86 and 90.20 +0.59 during March and August, 2010-11 respectively. The variations exhibited by the Apis cerana colonies on these two parameters at the same locality during the different periods of observation cannot be accounted for the inherent factors alone.