Seasonal pattern of foraging activity in Apis cerana (indica) for assessment of colony performance index and weight gain in Kashmir valley

Indian honey bee, Apis cerana is the base of Indian bee keeping and is distributed throughout India. It has many valuable characters of biological and economic importance. These include their ferocious, tamed and industrious nature, less prone to attack of parasite, mite and nosema diseases. However, absconding is a common problem in this species. Absconding is generally either disturbance induced or resource induced. Colony Performance Index (CPI) is used to measure the overall ability of the colony to stay at the nesting site. The foraging behavior of bees during different hours of the day from March to August 2020-21 was studied, wherein April and May showed greater foraging activity and better colony performance. The highest foraging behavior (139.33 bees entering/hive/5 min.) was recorded from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm in April (second fortnight) and the lowest foraging behavior (5 bees entering/hive/5 min.) was observed from 4:00 to 5:00 pm in August (second fortnight). The Colony Performance Index was recorded as 30.27 (highest) in the month of April and 3.18 (lowest) in the month of August. Monthly variation in Colony Performance Index (CPI) of Apis cerana assured the onset of dearth period as last week of July. The maximum space covered by eggs (177.20 sq cm), larvae (291.21 sq cm) and pupae (520.77 sq cm) was recorded in April (second fortnight) while the minimum space covered by eggs (80.59 sq cm), larvae (180.56 sq cm) and pupae (394.83 sq cm) was recorded in August (second fortnight).