‘‘A STUDY ON

BEE KEEPING IN
NUMALIGARH AREA’’

Under guidance of: Submitted by:

Dr. Dilip Borah Koran Barman
B.Sc.6thsemester
Roll no.55
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to my honorable guide

Dr.Dilip Borah Asst. professor Department of zoology, C.N.B.
College, Bokakhat for their constant guidance and valuable
suggestion during study.
I am much thankful and grateful to the library authority of
C.N.B. College, Bokakhat for providing me library facilities for
reference studies. I am also grateful to Mr. Sanjib Borah, Head
of the department, Zoology, C.N.B. College, Bokakhat. Who
accorded me to prepare the project.
Lastly, I also thankful to my friends for their kind
cooperation with me.

Koran Barman
B.Sc. 6th semester
Dept. of zoology
C.N.B. College, Bokakhat
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that, Koran Barman a student of B.Sc. 6th
semester of zoology major has successfully completed the
project work on “A STUDY ON BEE KEEPING IN NUMALIGARH
AREA” under the guidance of Dr. Dilip Borah as per requirement
of Dibrugarh University Syllabus. This project is a genuine one
and does not indulge in plagiarism of any kind.
I wish him success in life.

Dr. Dilip Borah

Assistance professor
Department of zoology
CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Review of literature
 Aims and objectives
 Methodology
 Result
 Discussion
 Photo gallery
 Reference
Introduction:
Present study has been done in Numaligarh area, Golaghat district, Assam in
Beekeeping at Numaligarh area. Honey bees highly organized social insect found
in all over the world. They exhibit polymorphism and good division of labour. A
good and well developed colony of bees had 40 to 50 thousand individuals
consisting of 3 castes: QUEEN, DRONE and WORKER. Honey bee mainly produces
honey. Honey has a long history of human consumption, and is most commonly
consumed in its unprocessed state it is taken as medicine, eaten as food, or
incorporated as an additive in a variety of food and beverages. India has been
known as ‘land of honey.’

Classification of honey bee:

Phylum…………………. Arthropoda

Class……………………..Insecta

Order………………….Hymenoptera

Family………………..Apidae

Genus……………….Apis

Apiculture is the science and culture of honeybees and their management.

Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 10,000 years ago.
Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 90,000 years ago in North Africa. The
Beekeeping in United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has achieved
out-standing success. In India beekeeping has been mainly forest based. Thus, the
raw material for production of honey is available free from nature.

Beekeeping has been practiced in India from a very long time by indigenous
methods and this unscientific beekeeping is still in vogue in certain tribal area of
the country. But now generally scientific beekeeping is done. After the
introduction and popularization of movable frame hives the knowledge on
management practices was borrowed from the west by adopting modification
suiting to Indian conditions.

Description of the study place:

Geography: Numaligarh is a town in the Golaghat district of Assam, India. It is

situated at a distance of 32 KM from Golaghat town. Numaligarh Borsapori lies
between the bank of the “Dhansiri river, “Kaliyani” river and the Deopahar hill.
The climate of Numaligarh is humid Subtropical. The average temperature is 24.2
Degree C. The rainfall averages 2141 mm. Coordinates: 26°38′ North latitude and
93°45′ East longitude.

Natural environment:

The natural environment is pleasant. Numaligarh is famous for its Tea garden.
Tropical wet evergreen forest is found in numaligarh. Valleys of Dhansiri and
Kaliyani river is very fertile and good for cultivation.

Many economically important timber Yielding plants are found , like –

Teak(Tectona grandis),TItasopa tree(Magnotia champaca) , Sal (Shorea robusta ),
Indian Redwood(Dalbergia sissoo)

Major Angiosperm Plants: Mustard plant(Brassica campestris),Jamun(Syzygium

cumini ),Nem(Azadirachta indica),Mango plant (Mangifera),
Star fruit (Averrhoa carambala),Sesame(Sesamum indicum),Dronpushpi( Leucas
cephalotes),Castor plant (Ricinus communis),Coriander(Neolamarckia cadamba),

Environment of Numaligarh is suitable for Bee keeping. It is because the

environment of Numaligarh prefers all species of honey bees, they are :

a. Rock bee( Apis dorsata)

b. Himalayan bee(Apis cerana)
c. Trigona bee
d. Little bee (Apis florea)

In Deopahar , the Trewiai nudiflora tree consists about more than 50 beehives of
Rock bees.

Review of literature :

Various workers worked on bee keeping to analyse quality and trading of honey
in different areas of the world. In india workers like Wandaia syngkan (2017)
worked on Problem and prospects of bee keeping at Khatrashnong in maghalaya.
He mentioned about moveable beehive and the other tools used in apiculture . In
Assam bee keeping worker like Biswajyoti Bikomiya Deori, Panna Deb, Hilloljyoti
Singha and Manabendra Ray Choudhury(2016) worked on traditional honey
harvesting by the Pnar community of South Assam, India. He mention about the
species of honey bee and the tools used in apiculture. GC Sarma and D Saharia
(2011) worked on Important Winter plant of Sonapur Area, kamrup District,
Assam. He mention about the important winter bee plants . In Jammu and
Kashmir worker like Devinder Sharma, D.P. Abrol, Hafeez Ahmad,Kuldeep
Srivastva and Vishav Vir(2013) worked on Migratory beekeeping in jammu and
Kashmir,india. They mention about the Within state migration technique and the
moveable bee hive used in apiculture . R. Tarunika Jain Agrawal(2014) worked on
Beekeeping Industry in india.:Future potential which are related with the bee
keeping technique used in my study area . Ramachandra T.V, Subash Chandran
M.D, Joshi N.V, Balachandran C.(2012) worked on Beekeeping: Sustainable
Livehood Option in Uttara Kannada, Central Western Ghats. Mention about some
beekeeping tools and techniques. Among them few tools and techniques also
used in my study area.

Aim and Objectives:

The present study was done to observe the Bee keeping technique in Numaligarh
area. To formulate this overall work I have taken few objectives given as bellow-

A. Study of bee keeping technique

B. Quality analysis of the honey

C. study of economic side of Bee keeping

Methodology and Materials:

The present study has been carried out in Numaligarh Borsapori located 26°38′
North latitude and 93°45′ East longitude, Golaghat district in Assam followed by
different work done by previous worker like Wandaia syngkan (2017) , GC Sarma
and D Saharia (2011), Biswajyoti Bikomiya Deori, Panna Deb, Hilloljyoti Singha and
Manabendra Ray Choudhury(2016), D.P. Abrol, Hafeez Ahmad,Kuldeep Srivastva
and Vishav Vir(2013) etc. The field observation was made from December 2017 to
March 2018 to collect information regarding beekeeping technique.
Questionnaires were prepared and data was collected according to standard
method from the beekeepers. The common name of the tools and the uses of the
tool also recorded from the beekeepers. The sample of honey of two different
species (Apis cerena, Apis mellifera ) is taken for the further laboratory quality
analysis. Sample of the honey is supplied to C.K. Udyog, Charigaon, Jorhat, Assam
for the quality test of honey.
I took Ruler, Two container of 100 ml, a notebook, honey and a pen is my key
instrument for field study

Collection of data:

Day 1

Place: Numaligarh Borsapori

Date: 22/12/2017

Time: 10.30 AM

On 22nd December of 2017 a field study was done on beekeeping technique

used in Numaligarh Borsapori. The group of 10 people doing beekeeping since
2014. They use the modern migratory beekeeping technique. They commercially
practicing migratory beekeeping in Numaligarh and in Karbi Anglong. I note down
the information from the beekeepers.
Day 2

Place: Numaligarh Borsaplori

Date: 15th January 2018

Time: 3.00 PM

On 15th January 2018 I visited the study area, they rear two type of honey bee ie.
Apis cerena Himalayan and apis mellifera and they used many equipment for
beekeeping. These are- moveable frame beehive(ISI-A type and Langstroth
beehive), Bee veil, Swarm Capture, Smoker, Brush, Uncapping Knife, Honey
extractor, Artificial queen maker. I note down measurement, common name, uses
of the equipment and the problem associated with the beekeeping.

Day 3

Place: Jorhat

Date: 4th February

Time : 1.00 PM

On 4th February sample of the honey is given to the C.K. udyog, Charigaon, jorhat
for the quality test. The different machine used in the laboratory are-

Refractometer –

Model no- 0-32 Brix ( Japan)

Incubator mLabs

Model no-mLabs-1727 (China)

HPLC Machine

Model no- SELON EX 1600

Result and discussion:
The Beekeeper of Numaligarh doing Beekeeping since 2014. They are doing
beekeeping in group.

Honey bee types

In Numaligarh honey bee is called as Mou Makhi. I found two types of honey
bees to be reared in the study area. Depending upon the size and the production
of honey beekeeper categorized honey bees into two types:

1. Apis cerena Himalayan (Local name :Khurungia mou makhi)

This species is imported from the West Bengal. This species of honey bee
collected by beekeeper from the tree hole, rock hole and from the under of the
ground. It is a domesticated variety of honey bee and available throughout the
continent. The average honey production from these species is between 20-30
kg/hive/annum

2. Apis mellifera (Posimia mou makhi)

This species of honey bee is most widely distributed and commercially reared
honeybee in the world. They are domesticated in nature. This species is imported
from the west Bangal, india in train. In india these bees are imported from
western country like Italy. For the rearing of this honey bee beekeeper depends
on these plant-

a. Mustard plant b. sesame plant c. Rubber plant. So the bee keeper migrate
the bee hive from one place to another. The average honey production
from these species is between 30-40 kg/hive/annum.

Equipments use in bee keeping:

1.Bee hive( mou bakos): the modern artificial hive is constructed by wood. This

There are two different types of beehive for the two species-
A.ISI –A type beehive for Apis cerena Himalayan

It is small is size with compare to the Langstroth bee hive .it has 8 no of frame. In
honey and brood chamber.Inner

B.Langstroth beehive for Apis mellifera.

This type of hive is used for the western bees . It has 10 number of frame in
honey and brood chamber.

typical hive consist of 6 parts as given below:

Hive stand : made up of bamboo,wood or iron to give support to bee-hive . It

supports the hive in slanting position so that the rain water flows down easily.

Bottom board:It is a basal plate, which is placed over the stand. It provides a
landing board for the bees. It has two gates in front position – one for the entry
and the other for exit.

Brood chamber:It is the main part of hive. It is the most bottom box of the hive
and is where the queen bee lays her egg. It is a large wodden box,that holds
about 10 frames of comb. The inner space, called the brood nest, is reserved for
the bees to rear brood and store honey for their own use. The brood chamber 7-
11 frame s called comb foundation hang vertically from the top. Each is a sheet of
pure bee wax bearing hexagonal marks on both the sides. Along with the margin
of every hexagonal mark, the bees start making wall and finally the cells. The
frame can be taken out as and when required. The distance between the frames
is maintain for the movement of the bees.

Super chamber:

This chamber is fitted above the brood chamber. It is upper most box where
honey is stored. This chamber also has a number of frames with comb
foundations .it provides additional space for the expansion of hive. The queen is
never allowed to enter into it. The super chamber has a top wooden cover called
inside cover. It prevents bees from attaching comb to outer cover and provides
insulating dead air space. It also has holes for ventilation.

Queen excluder : It is a metallic wire net placed between brood chamber and
super chamber. It is used to prevent the entry of queen into super chamber.

Top cover: It is meant for protecting the colony from rains.

2.Bee vail (Uroni tupi ): It is worn for protect facial portion from bee- stings
during handling of bee colony

3. Swarm Capture( Jalmuna): This is a bag made up of plastic net to collect

honeybee swarms from different natural sources

4.Smoker (dhua vati ): This device is used to pacify the bees if irritated and
disperse them during hive inspection for maintenance and honey collection. The
grass, jute bag are the commom materials used for producing smoke.

5. Brush: It is a large brush which is used to remove bees from the combs
especially during honey extraction.

6. Uncapping Knife: ( kotari): It is a long broad piece of iron used to remove the
wax capping of the hive during extraction of honey.The wax capping is removed
with the help of uncapping knife before the combs are placed in honey extractor.

7. Artificial queen maker: It is a device used for the production of artificial queen.
It has 27 queen chamber. For producing a adult queen it needs 15 days.

8. Honey extractor: It is machine, which works on the principle of centrifugal

force and used to extract honey. It is drum of “tin” metal with an internal rotor
which rotate on its axis. The comb foundation frames, on which the bees have
deposited honey, are fitted on the rotor and then it is rotated. Due to centrifugal
force the honey is separated. The comb foundation frames remain intact and can
be reused. It is 36 cm in length,26 cm in radius.
Seasonal quality of honey :

Quality of honey depend on the honey producing flora from which the nectar is
collected, soil from which the nectar is collected and the natural environment
where the bees live.

Best session of honey production

According to the beekeeper and my observation I found that, quality of honey

changes with respect to season. In the month of December to march the honey
is majorly produce from the nectar of the mustard plant so, the honey become
dense dark yellowish in colour. The mustard flower is rich in pollen so the
produced honey contain large amount of pollen.

In the summer season the produced honey is ash colour. The smell and the
density of the honey is decreases because the nectar is collected from the Lichi,
Ajar, rubber, mango flower, sesame, plants etc.
Money investment by the Bee keepers:

Equipment Approx. price (apis mellifera) Approx. price(Apis cerena)

Moveable bee hive 250 pieces × 1300=325000₹ 250 piece × 2300=575000₹

Beehive with Queen bee 250 pieces × 1100=275000₹ 250 pieces × 2100= 525000₹

Stand 250 pieces × 600 =150000₹ 250 piece× 700= 175000₹

Bee vail 5 pieces × 200=1000₹ 5 pieces × 200=1000₹

Smoker 5 pieces × 350=1750₹ 5 pieces × 350=1750₹

Honey extractor 1 piece × 1500=1500₹ 1 pieces× 1500=1500₹

Brush 5 pieces × 150 =750₹ 5 pieces × 150=750₹

Total 755000₹ 1280000₹

(price in 2017)

Total money spend : 755000+1280000=2035000*₹ approx.

The approx. life of the equipment is 10 year.

Honey production in Cerena bee(annum) : 10 kg ×250 hives =2500 kg/year.

( Current market price of honey = 300₹ in 2017 year),

Per year income = 2500kg ×300₹ =750000*₹

For Mellifera bee: 30kg × 250 hives =7500 kg/year

Current market price of honey =300₹ ,

Per year income =7500kg×300=2250000*₹

Quality test of Honey:
Photo gallery:
Discussion:
My project work is being conducted in Numaligarh Borsapori area. Beekeeping
provides an excellent source for the rural unemployed and excellent source of
income, since beekeeping is migratory in nature and the landless farmers can
associate with this profession. In beekeeping no farm land is wasted as apiaries
are kept on the boundaries and not cultivable land is needed.

The beekeepers collects only the honey and bee wax from the hive. The other
hive product like royal jelly, propolis, bee venom and pollen are not collected by
beekeeper. So I told them to collect the other product for making bee keeping
more profitable.

According to the beekeepers, the production of the mustard crop Increases yield
of honey, where by cross pollination it may increase up to 200% .In Numaligarh
area it is a problemin bee keeping. The farmers of Numaligarh use excessive
pesticides. So comparativelyit decreases the production of honey . Being a
zoology student I tried to aware the farmer not to use excessive amount of
pesticides in crops. I told the farmers to consult a agriculture expert before using
pesticides.

I also tried to make them understood that burning of the straw in field must be
banned strictly as it adversely effect bee population.
Reference:
Agrawal Tarenika Jain(2014):Beekeeping Industry in india.:Future potential.
International journal of research in applied, nature and social
science(IMPACT:IJRANSS). ISSN(E):2321-8851;ISSN(P):2347-4580 vol. 2, Issue 7,
Jun 2014, 133-140 www.impactjournals.us

Deori Biswajyoti Bikomiya, Deb Panna, Singha Hilloljyoti and Choudhury

Manabendra Ray(2016):Traditional honey harvesting by the pnar community of
South Assam, India. Our Nature. ISSN: 1991-2951 (print) ISSN:2091-2781 (online).
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/on.v14i1.16436

Sarma GC and Saharia D (2011):Important Winter plant of sonapur Area, Kamrup

District, Assam. Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences
ISSN:2231_6345(online) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/on.v14i1.16436

Sharma Devinder, Abrol D.P, Ahmad Hafeez, Srivastva Kuldeep and Vir
Vishav(2013): Migratory beekeeping in jammu and Kashmir, India.Journal
apiculture research January 2013. DOI:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/262416535

Syngkan Wandaia(2017): problems and prospects of bee keepibg at khatrashnong

in meghgalaya. International Jurnal of advanced research. . ISSN NO.2320-5407.
Article DOI:10.21474/IJAR01/5096. DOI
URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/5096

V. Ramachandra T, D. Subash Chandran M, V.Joshi N, C.

Balachandran(2012)Beekeeping: Sustainable Livehood Option in Uttara Kannada,
Central Western Ghats.ENVIS Technical Report:49. Environmental information
system[ENVIS].Centre for ecological Science,Indian institute science, Bangalore-
560012, INDIA. Web: http://ces.iise.ernet.in/energy/.
http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity.