Seasonal Colony Loss Rates and Honey Bee Management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Results of a Survey of Beekeepers

There is high demand for honey in Saudi Arabia, honey bees make a valuable contribution to agriculture and the economy, and therefore it is important to know levels of colony loss and potential reasons for losses. While there is much research into honey bee colony losses worldwide, little is known a...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 6; p. 513
Main Authors:	Albarrak, Abdulmajeed Barrak, Gray, Alison
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 01-06-2023 MDPI
Subjects:	Agricultural research Apiculture Apis mellifera Associations Bee breeding Bee culture Beekeeping beekeeping practice Bees Benchmarks Colonies colony loss Data analysis Data collection face-to-face survey Fluvalinate Forecasts and trends Honey honey bee Honeybee Management Mites online survey Polls & surveys Printed materials Questionnaires Races Response rates seasonal loss rates Seasons Spring Spring (season) Summer Surveys Saudi Arabia Algeria Israel United States > US Europe Saudi Arabia colony loss honey bee face-to-face survey Varroa destructor seasonal loss rates beekeeping practice online survey
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	There is high demand for honey in Saudi Arabia, honey bees make a valuable contribution to agriculture and the economy, and therefore it is important to know levels of colony loss and potential reasons for losses. While there is much research into honey bee colony losses worldwide, little is known about colony losses in Saudi Arabia, management practices or beekeeping experience there. The aims of this work were to address this knowledge gap. Results of a survey of beekeepers in southwest Saudi Arabia conducted in summer 2018 are presented, including colony losses in five different seasons. Data collection involved face-to-face interviews, supplemented by an online survey, using a purpose-designed questionnaire. Responses were obtained from 109 beekeepers, all male, managing 135 to 1700 colonies, with 2 to 45 years of beekeeping experience. Most (73.1%) respondents mainly kept local hybrid bees, while 25.9% mainly kept . Honey yields per colony varied much more between beekeepers than between bee races. A high proportion (83.5%) of beekeepers reported losing colonies over the period studied. The reported colony loss rate was significantly higher in summer than in other seasons, but still low. The overall proportion of colonies lost was 11.4% in summer 2017 and was lowest in spring 2018 (6.6%). The main reported causes of loss were and disease. Most beekeepers (88.0%) treated against the Varroa mite, although only one method was reported, tau-fluvalinate as Apistan strips, and only 41.7% used a screened bottom board. The results establish a benchmark for future beekeeper surveys in Saudi Arabia and other environmentally similar countries where colony losses are of interest in all seasons of the year. Informing and supporting Saudi beekeepers concerning Varroa monitoring and treatment and optimal hive management could result in fewer losses, higher honey yields, potential to market organic honey and a greater share of the domestic honey market.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2075-4450 2075-4450
DOI:	10.3390/insects14060513