Thesis and Dissertations

Evaluating the Potential Contribution of Bee Forage Development During Dearth Periods in Improving Colony Productivity in North Mecha District, West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

2022-08-01T00:00:00Z

Evaluating the Potential Contribution of Bee Forage Development During Dearth Periods in Improving Colony Productivity in North Mecha District, West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia Dereje Belayhun The study was conducted in Western-Gojjam with the objectives of evaluating the potential contribution of bee forage development during dearth periods in improving colony productivity in North Mecha district, West Gojjam Zone. Youth beekeeping cooperative apiary sites were selected that were far apart at least 3-5 km. The study sites had and did not have irrigated lands. However, the two experimental sites with apiaries have similar plant types and be free of agrochemicals. The irrigation-free youth cooperative beekeeper served as a control for comparison with the irrigation-enabled locations. The irrigable prepared ground was used to identify, select, and plant annual bee feed species. Using a RCBD experimental design, around 5 bee foraging plants were planted in irrigable portions of the research locations. Medicago sativa (Alfalfa), Corriandrum sativium (Dinblal), Brassica spp (Gomenzer), Guizotia abyssinica (Nug), and Ocimumbasilicum (besobila) were among the annual bee forage plants sown. During the flowering season of the planted forages, eight honeybee colonies for each experimental site (with irrigation and without irrigation) were created, totaling 16 framed hive bee colonies. The experimental locations with similar colony performance and colony numbers were chosen. Colony management strategies, other than additional feeding, were used for both irrigable and non-irrigable honeybee colonies. The experimental colonies provided quantitative data which was input, sorted, and structured using Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v23). ANOVA with Duncan's mean separation test was used to perform significant tests for comparative means between the irrigable and non-irrigable areas. Guizotia abyssinica had a longer duration of time than other plant species, lasting more than three months. When compared to other species, Medicago sativa (Alfalfa) took the longest (82 days) to establish flowers and stayed in bloom for 58 days. Brassica carinata, on the other hand, took 67 days to blossom and lasted 47 days. The plants Medicago sativa and Ocimum basillicum blossom for the same amount of time. Corriandrum is the crop with the longest mean days for germination (12) when compared to other species. Before experiment, honey yield varies depending on season of the year, with active season yields of 11.78±6.09 and dry season yields of 4.02±3.81 k g. The overall mean honey output before experiment in two of the experimental locations was 11.31±6.77 kg and 4.48±3.59 kg in the irrigated and non-irrigation sites, respectively. After experiment, honeybee colonies in the irrigation location produced more honey (14.27±4.5) than honeybee colonies in the non-irrigation site (5.14±3.92). As a result, utilizing dry season bee forage irrigation tactics, beekeeping locations similar to our research region can harvest promising honey yields.

Identification of Major Bee Flora and Establishment of Floral Calendar of Lasta Lalibela District, North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region

2022-08-01T00:00:00Z

Identification of Major Bee Flora and Establishment of Floral Calendar of Lasta Lalibela District, North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region Amlaku Melesse The study was conducted in Lasta Lalibela district North Wollo zone, Amhara region with the objectives, to identify the major honeybee flora and their phenology through beekeepers interview, field observation and honey pollen analysis. To do this, two representative agroecologies, mid land (two Kebeles) and low land (three kebeles) were selected using stratified random sampling procedures. A total of 172 Beekeepers were randomly selected and interviewed using a structured questioner to collect relevant information. In addition 45 quadrates were established in different land use system: protected area (20), farm land (15) and back yard (10) by means of transect sampling method to collect vegetation data including bee flora species diversity and abundance. Moreover, 20 honey samples each weighing a minimum of 500 gm was collected from beekeepers during major honey flow or harvested seasons (October to November). According to the survey results the majorities 92.4% (159) of the respondents were males and 7.6 % (13) were females. During the interview the beekeepers were asked to identify the major and minor honey bee floras and flowering period in different agro-ecological zones. This study shows a total of 49 commonly grown bee flora species belonging to 25 families were identified. Accordingly, the major bee flora species in the study area includes Biden spp, Becium grandiflorium, Euclea schimperi, Hypoestes triflora, Cordia africana, Trifolium Spp, Acacia spp, Eucalptus spp and Unidentified species. Furthermore the present finding showed that 55.8%, 34.2%, 29.8%, 18.8% and 5.3% of the existed bee floras belonging to herbs, shrubs, trees, crop and grass, respectively. A total of 11 pollen and nectar source flowering plant species belonging to 6 families were identified from honey pollen analysis. The pollen analysis from honey samples revealed that, 89.7%, 88% and 69.18% of the pollen in honey found to be Trifolium semipilosum, Bidens spp and Echinops spp, respectively. The present study shows pests and predators are the major constraints of beekeeping practice followed by, drought and unwise pesticide application. Therefore to solve this problem, provision of dearth period supplementation and growing multipurpose and drought resistant bee forage plants shall be practiced. Further study is recommended on honeybee colony carrying capacity of the district.

Evaluating the Effect of Honeybee Pollination on Production of Watermelon (Citrullus Lantatus), in Northern Ethiopia

2022-02-01T00:00:00Z

Evaluating the Effect of Honeybee Pollination on Production of Watermelon (Citrullus Lantatus), in Northern Ethiopia Bereket Fikadie A field study was done in 2021 in three districts of West Gojjam Zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia to determine the effect of honeybee pollination on Citrullus lanatus utilizing three treatments (honeybee-pollination, open-pollination, and self-pollination). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design using three replications. Personal observation and a camera were employed in a 1 m 2 area for 5 minutes on 3 sunny days at 4 different times of the day: 08.00-09.00 am, 10.00 am-11.00 am, 02.0003.00 pm, and 04.00-05.00 pm. Following this procedure, richness, abundance, and diversity of pollinators on open-pollinated treatments were determined. The pollination effect on watermelon fruit was studied utilizing physicochemical parameters, sensory attributes, and economic feasibility studies. Excel and SAS software (version 9.0) was employed to analyze the data. A total of five different types of major pollinators were observed visiting watermelon flowers, each with a different abundance, richness, and diversity. The major pollinators were honeybees (73.63 %), mason bees (13.19 %), butterflies (5.49 %), carpenter bees (4.40 %), and carder bees (3.30 % ). Honeybee was responsible for about 84.1% of the watermelon yield increment. This study shows, the majority of the physicochemical attributes were non-significant (p>0.05) between Bahir Dar and Amarit experimental sites, but both of them were greater than Denbun experimental site. Honeybee-pollinated plants significantly outperformed open-pollinated and self-pollinated plants by the most physicochemical parameters, whereas openpollinated plants significantly exceeded self-pollinated plants in half of the physicochemical parameters. Besides, the panel of consumers favored open-pollinated and honeybee-pollinated fruits over self-pollinated fruits. However, due to the highest acceptable value of the Marginal Rate of Return, open-pollination was the most economically likely pollination method. As a result, developing a good strategy to keep watermelon pollinators alive is important, and employing pollination as part of a crop extension package will be better to improve watermelon production through the most cost-effective open-pollination approach. Furthermore, it is better to establish a multidisciplinary consultation forum to highlight the importance of pollinators on watermelon output.

Honeybee Production Practices and Honey Production Potential of Honeybees in Metema District, West Gondar Zone, Amhara, Ethiopia

2022-03-01T00:00:00Z

Honeybee Production Practices and Honey Production Potential of Honeybees in Metema District, West Gondar Zone, Amhara, Ethiopia Ewunetu Tarekegn This study was designed to characterize the honeybee production practices, honey production potential of Apis melifera jemenitica honeybee races and to identify challenges and opportunities of honey production in Metema district. Four peasant associations were selected using a purposive sampling technique based on their potential for honeybee production and bee flora availability. A total of 120 respondents were randomly sampled using a proportional sampling method. From each peasant associations respondents were interviewed on prepared semistructured questionnaires. The collected data were coded and entered to the Microsoft excel work sheet then analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences v.22 (SPSS V.22) and priority index for rankings. Descriptive statistics was used to express the results using frequencies, means and percent. According to this study three types of honeybee production practices were registered; traditional honeybee production practice accounting for 95%. Top bar hive honeybee production practice 1.7% and frame hive honeybee production practice 3.3%. Analysis of variance revealed that honey yield is highly significantly (p<0.01) influenced by the beehive type and season. The overall honey yield recorded from frame, top bar and traditional hives was 17.25, 14.25 and 8.24kg/year respectively. Agro-chemical poisoning (1 ), poor management (2 nd ), knowledge gaps (3 rd ) and parasite, pest and predators (4 ) are the major challenges of honeybee production in the district. High demand of beehive products, availability of huge honeybee colony, presence of diversified honeybee flora etc. respectively are the major opportunities for honeybee production. From this study frame beehive systems are best for honey production. Finally, involvement of literate youngsters shall be taken part in modern honeybee production practices. Respondent farmers should be trained to construct top bar and frame hives from the locally available materials. Shifting production practice to frame hive honeybee production practice, extension of respondents and further studies on quality and marketing should be taking place for better production in Metema.