Meliponiculture in Indonesia (ed REP) Ed. 31072016.docx

Beescape for Meliponines, 2014

This Chapter looks at different meliponicutures from various regions globally. South American Stingless Bees in Argentina, Brazil, Guyana and Peru and Central American Stingless Bees in Costa Rica, Mexico and their Bee plants or flowers. Australian Native Stingless bees and their bee plants and flowers. Tropical African Stingless Bees in Angola and their Bee plants and flowers.

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 2014

In Indonesia, hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) is one of the most important spices. Despite the fact that high yield cultivars and fertilizers have been applied to increase the annual production of this spice, local farming is always unable to maintain constant production. Studies to find the explanation of this problem mostly focused on pest attack while possibility of low fruit production due to lack of pollination was neglected. In this study, the effect of pollinator visitation to fruit set and quality was assessed by application of two local domesticated honey bees, Asiatic honey bees (Apis cerana) and stingless bees (Trigona laeviceps) as potential pollinator agents at hot pepper plantation. This study found that both bees had similar visitation rate while A. cerana spend less time in flowers. Visitation by A. cerana and Trigona laeviceps improved fruit set, fruit production per plant, average fruit weight, and fruit size. This result confirms the importance of cross pollination for hot pepper production and both species could be used as pollination agent for hot pepper. Advantages and disadvantages for each species as pollination agent for local Indonesia farm system are discussed in this paper.

Meliponiculture, a stingless bees beekeeping has become an important industry in Malaysia. Reports on mass infestation of pests on colonies of domesticated stingless bees (Geniotrigona thoracica and Heterotrigona itama) were received in mid-June 2016 from the beekeepers in northern peninsular Malaysia. The infestation destroyed thousands of stingless bee colonies within one week of attack, resulting in huge losses to the bee industry. This research was conducted to determine the species of pest infested the bees colonies in the northern peninsular Malaysia. Samples of larvae from the infested colonies were collected manually using entomological forceps from a stingless bees farm in the state of Kedah and the larvae were reared in the laboratory until adult stage. Identification of the larvae and adult pest confirmed that the invading species were the black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) that had not hitherto been regarded as a pest, but as a beneficial insect. The four major signs of attack by this pest on the stingless bee colonies are: 1) the nest entrance became smaller, 2) Honey in the honey pots developed bubbles 3) The presence of white larvae in the nest topping, and 4) honey spilled from the honey pots and flowed out from the nest topping. This is the first report on mass infestation of domesticated stingless bee colonies by the BSF. Therefore it is important to monitorthe spread and the potential threat poses by BSF on the stingless bee for sustainability of stingless bees itself and meliponiculture in Malaysia.

Propolis liquid products in Indonesian market was still dominated by imports of bee Apis mellifera's propolis. This bee is the most popular bee in the world, including in Indonesia. The bees are European native bees. The popularity of Apis mellifera is due to its superiority in honey and propolis production. Along with Apis mellifera as Indonesian's native bee, there are also Apis cerana, Apis dorsata and Apis florae and Trigona spp. The development of honey bees in Indonesia has good prospects because it is supported by a wide variety of vegetation and forests are still large enough that about 200 million ha. Trigona spp bees as Indonesian native bee is not popular. However, forest communities have been familiar with these bees. The research purpose is to study the potential of Trigona spp to produce propolis in Indonesia and compared to Apis melifera as a control. The research method used is survey and Focus Group Discussion. Indonesia is potential for cultivating and producing of bee propolis Trigona spp. With 200 million ha of forest area, Indonesia has the potential to produce crude bee propolis of Trigona spp as much as 2.243 tons per 4 months or 6.729 tons per year. The various uniqueness owned by Trigona spp bee. are more easily cultivated and more resistant to disease than Apis mellifera, more diverse components of phytochemical due to a diversity of flavor and color of raw propolis, and higher yield, especially Trigona spp's propolis from South Sulawesi.

Panduan Penternak Kelulut, 2016

Overview of Competence of Meliponiculture entrepreneurs in terms of skills, knowledge and entrepreneurship in the rearing stingless bees in Brunei Darussalam

The aim of this study was to determine the composition and identify the pollen foraged by Heterotrigona itama in coastal and forested area over a period of nine months. The sampling has been conducted started from June 2016 until February 2017. Pollen composition obtained from the pollen basket of H. itama in coastal area and forested area of Terengganu was observed and recorded using optical microscope. Up until February, H. itama in coastal area had collected 14 different type of pollen, however only 10 types of pollen have been successfully identified. The identified pollen were Antigonan leptopus, Amaranthus tricolor, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Cucumis melo, Ixora coccinea, Tridax procumbens, Biden pilosa, Turnera subulata, Ixora javanica and Portula grandiflora which was the dominant pollen that has the highest percentage. Meanwhile H. itama in forested area has collected 15 different type of pollen with only 7 types of pollen have been successfully identified. The identified pollen were dominated by Asystasia gangetica followed by Biden pilosa, Antigonan leptopus, Reullia brittonia, Amaranthus tricolor, Hibiscus sabdariffa and Portulaca grandiflora. This observation could be useful for plants and H. itama conservation purposes and also in planning a suitable beescape for Meliponiculture in Malaysia.

In India honey bees like Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are reared for commercial purpose. The other bees like rock bee (Apis dorsata), little bee (Apis florea) and dammer bee (Trigona sp) are not domesticated because of their ecophysiology. However, the kani tribes living in Karayar area of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve area (KMTR) of Western Ghats have developed a novel method of rearing the dammer bees. The objective of the study is to understand the traditional skill of Kani tribes to rear the stingless bee (Trigona sp.) which was not used for regular bee keeping. The present study also gives importance to evolve commercial strategies to get honey (medicinal honey) from Trigona sp. The findings of the present study will help to preserve the art of rearing stingless bees and to introduce modern techniques to harvest pure, clean and uncontaminated honey by suitable modifications in the indigenous practice of stingless bee rearing. The honey produced by dammer bees is a panacea for much human illness. The Kani tribes have developed a bamboo pole bee hive to keep this stingless bee belonged to the species Trigona irredipensis. The dammer bees build an interesting type of comb made of propolis, mud and about 600-700gm honey is collected per year per hive. Because of rich medicinal value the honey collected from this beehive is sold at a rate of Rs.1000/Kg.

In India honey bees like Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are reared for commercial purpose. The other bees like rock bee (Apis dorsata), little bee (Apis florea) and dammer bee (Trigona sp) are not domesticated because of their ecophysiology. However, the kani tribes living in Karayar area of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve area (KMTR) of Western Ghats have developed a novel method of rearing the dammer bees. The objective of the study is to understand the traditional skill of Kani tribes to rear the stingless bee (Trigona sp.) which was not used for regular bee keeping. The present study also gives importance to evolve commercial strategies to get honey (medicinal honey) from Trigona sp. The findings of the present study will help to preserve the art of rearing stingless bees and to introduce modern techniques to harvest pure, clean and uncontaminated honey by suitable modifications in the indigenous practice of stingless bee rearing. The honey produced by dammer bees is a panacea for much human illness. The Kani tribes have developed a bamboo pole bee hive to keep this stingless bee belonged to the species Trigona irredipensis. The dammer bees build an interesting type of comb made of propolis, mud and about 600-700gm honey is collected per year per hive. Because of rich medicinal value the honey collected from this beehive is sold at a rate of Rs.1000/Kg.

INTISARI Lebah tanpa sengat (Trigona spp.) dapat menghasilkan madu yang bermanfaat bagi kesehatan. Penelitian bertujuan untuk mengetahui : (1) morfologi Trigona spp., (2) struktur internal sarang Trigona spp. pada sarang berbentuk tabung dan bola, (3) volume sarang serta perkiraan produksi madu, beebread dan selanakan Trigona spp. pada sarang berbentuk tabung dan bola. Penelitian dilaksanakan pada bulan November 2014. Sampel yang digunakan adalah koloni dan sarang Trigona spp. berbentuk tabung dan bola yang diambil di Desa Padang Tunggal, Kecamatan Selat, Kabupaten Karangasem, Bali. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa nama spesies dari sampel koloni Trigona spp. pada sarang berbentuk tabung dan bola adalah Trigona laeviceps. Struktur internal sarang Trigona spp. pada sarang berbentuk tabung dan bola mempunyai pola susunan yaitu pot madu, pot beebread dan pot sel anakan. Volume sarang besar memberikan perkiraan total jumlah produksi madu, beebread dan selanakan lebih banyak dibandingkan volume sarang kecil. ABSTRACT Stingless bees (Trigona spp.) produce honey that is useful for human health. This study aimed to identify (1) the morphology of the Trigona spp.., (2) the internal structure of tube and ball shaped nest, (3) the nest volume and honey production, and the brood of Trigona spp. The study has been conducted in November 2014. Samples of this study were the Trigona colonies in tube and ball-shaped nests, collected from Padang Tegal Village, Selat, District of Karangasem, Bali. The results showed that both shapes of nests were colonized by the same species of Trigona which was Trigona laeviceps. The patterns of honey pots, pots of bee bread, and brood chambers were similar between both shapes of the nests (tube and ball). The lager the nests volume, the more honey, bee bread and brood was produced.

Genetics and Molecular Research, 2009

We evaluated the ratio between the number of pollen foragers and the total number of bees entering colonies of Melipona bicolor, a facultative polygynous species of stingless bees. The variables considered in our analysis were: seasonality, colony size and the number of physogastric queens in each colony. The pollen forager ratios varied significantly between seasons; the ratio was higher in winter than in summer. However, colony size and number of queens per colony had no significant effect. We conclude that seasonal differences in pollen harvest are related to the production of sexuals and to the number of individuals and their body size.