The Effect of Daily Activities Stingless Bees of Trigona sp. on Honey Production

Abstract

Trigona sp. is a group of stingless bees that including one of the indigenous bees from Indonesia and the bees without sting that live colonies in the trunk of trees or woods, bamboos, sugar palm stalks and on the ground. The habitat causes different daily activities in the hive, so affected production of honey. The aim of thestudy was to determine an effect of daily activities the stingless bees worker of Trigona sp. on the production of honey in the various bee hives design. This study was conducted from 16 July to 22 September 2016 in Ngrandu Katongan Village, Sub-District of Nglipar Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta. The material of research were stingless bees Trigona sp. was obtained from the bamboos in the KTH Madusari beekeeping. Sixty colonies were transferred to four bee hives design (35x20x15.5; 35x20x17.5; 37.5x20x20; 40x20x20 cm) with fifteen replications (number of bee hives design). Transfer of colonies was performed at night to avoid the stress that consists of the queen bee, eggs, worker bees and drones, pollen as a source of protein in the hive and placed on the nest for about two months of the beekeeping process. The research results showed that production of stingless bees Trigona sp. honey in various bee hives design were 62.20±20.32;       66.60±26.60; 60.60±16.53; 49.20±32.72 ml respectively that did not significantly different (P>0.05) in the daily activity. In addition, the entrance and exit hives by bees worker at 08.00 to 10.00 am and 02.00 to 04.00 pm did not significantly different. Thus, production of honey was dependent on the daily activity of bees worker especially entrance and exit hives to collect nectar as raw material to the production of honey. It can be concluded that bee hives design 35x20x17.5 cm resulting higher production of honey and daily activities than the other design.