Colony Growth of Local Honey Bee (Apis cerana) in Teak and Eucalypt Stands

Abstract— There are various species of plants that potentially become a food source of local honey bee (A. cerana) in Wanagama Education Forest. Therefore it is necessary to do research on the development of local honey bee colonies in Wanagama Education Forest. This study was aimed to determine: the development of local honey bee colonies kept in teak and eucalyptus stands, The research was conducted in teak and eucalypt stands of compartment 14, Wanagama Education Forest in September to December 2016. The research was done by measuring the weight of the bee colony, the width of the honeycomb, the length and weight of the individual worker bees once a month. The results showed that the weight increase of bee colony kept in eucalypt stand (102,3%) was higher than that in teak stand (62,6%) in four months. The width of honeycomb increase in eucalypt stand (122.6 %) tended to be higher than that in the teak stand (99.7%). The highest body length (1.20 cm -1.23 cm) and body weight ( 0.052 g -0.055 g) of worker bee was observed in November. Local honey bee colony in Eucalypt stand developed better than that in teak stand. Eucalypt stand in Wanagama Education Forest seems to have a good carrying capacity for keeping local honey bees.