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

Honey is one of the bee products that have high economic value. Beekeeping has not developed well in Indonesia. Production of honey in Indonesia is around 4000 tons per year and most of this honey production is produced from hunting wild in the forest (Kuntadi, 2016). The results of honey in Indonesia is not sufficient for the community because the need for honey is estimated to increase by 7000 tons / year. Indonesia still imports many honey from other countries such as Australia, New Zaeland, Thailand etc. Therefore honeybee keeping needs to get serious attention so that we do not depend on imports of honey from abroad.

In Indonesia there are several species of honeybees cultivated such as local honeybee (Apis cerana) and honeybees from Europe (Apis mellifera). A. mellifera is widely developed and cultivated intensively in Indonesia because it has great honey results. But these bees have the disadvantage of not being able to withstand parasitic attacks of mites that can damage and kill colony A. mellifera quickly. Besides that the bees are not easy to adjust to the environment. These bees also need to be transferred to other places following the flowering plant species. However, the transfer of colonies required considerable cost and manpower.

Local honeybees (A. cerana) produce less honey than A. mellifera but this bee has the advantage of high resistance to the attack of mite parasites known to greatly damage in apiculture. In addition A.cerana has a good ability in adaptation to the environment. A. cerana also has a greater genetic diversity compared to A. mellifera. Therefore, this local honeybee needs to be developed intensively to produce honey with high quality and quantity (Koetz,2013).

During this time A. cerana has not been intensively cultivated. Honeybee A. cerana usually is obtained from nature or cultivated traditionally without good care. For example in Wanagama Forest the average production of honeybee A.cerana is still low around 1-3 kg / colony / year. Besides the bee A.cerana also easily move to another place. With the innovation of honeybee cultivation technique, it is expected to increase the production of honey.

Forest is one of the potential places in the supply of bee feed. The diversity of flowering vegetation in the forest allows the bees to get enough feed each season. One of the forests that the surrounding community serve as the location of honeybee cultivation is Wanagama I Forest Forest, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta (Adityawan, 2015). The honeybees forage for collecting nectar, pollen and water (Seeley,1989; Abou-Shaara, 2014). Pollen collection increase in the larval stage (Hellmich and Rothenbuhler, 1986). An increase in the uncapped brood in the colonies cause a decrease nectar foraging (Hoopinger and Taber, 1997). The decrease of the pollen in the hive can decrease the brood rearing activity (Barker and Jay, 1974; Antonsenko and Ermoleava, 1979). Changes in the internal environment of the honeybee colony influence its foraging response (Calderone, 1993; Dreller et al.1999). The stronger colony produce more honey than weaker colony (Bhusal et al., 2011; El-Kazafy and Al-Kahtani,2013)

Wanagama Forest is a reforestation forest by converting an area that was once a barren hill that has not been overgrown by vegetation (Al-Mubarrok, 2016). The carrying capacity of Wanagama Forest in providing food sources plays an important role in the development of local honeybee colony (A. cerana) which is stationery beekeeping within the forest area. The objectives of the research was to know the development of local honeybee colony kept in teak stand and eucalypt stand.