Richness of stingless bees in South Omo
I recorded a total of two species of stingless bees belonging to family Apidae and subfamily Meliponinae. According to traditional classification of agro-ecology stingless bees mainly found in Dega and weynadega agro-ecology with hill side and protected areas are rich in stingless bees' nests. Those recorded stingless bee species in the study area were Meliponula beccarii and Hypotrigona gribodoi. The two species of stingless bees are varied within their body size, nesting habitats, nest structure and nest site. According to the focus group discussion/FGD/ and field observations the spectacular futures of Meliponula beccarii stingless bees species is large in size, the nest structure is round and found in the underground also locally known as “Degera” by Maaligna, - “Dekra” by Arigna and - “Shishako” by Benigna whereas Hypotrigona gribodoi stingless bee species is small in size, the nest mainly found upper ground hollow trunk part of threes and wood in general nests were either build on sites such as tree cavities, house wall cavities and any other objects that have hole, locally Known as “yinginga” – by Arigna and “chimere” - by Benigna. The current research result was in line with (icipe,2019) reported that Meliponula beccarii and Hypotrigona gribodoi stingless bees species found in Ethiopia. The species looks like in figure 1 below.
Trends of stingless beekeeping
As compared to long lasting stingless bees, distribution now a days is declining time to time both in stingless bees' nests and honey production due to expansion of farm land, deforestation which means decline of bee forage plants and unwise use of stingless bees practices during nest excavation destroyed of the nest. In the study area, none of the beekeepers practice a backyard beekeeping system of stingless bees only found in the forest and farm land as a natural nest.
But only a few beekeepers participating in FGD can reuse stingless bee nests for several years due to taking care during nest excavation and honey harvesting.
Honey production and marketing of stingless bees honey
According to the FGD result, the average stingless bees nest holding of the beekeepers are 1-5 nests per year, but sometimes in exceptional cases one beekeeper can get up to 10 stingless bees nests. The most experienced beekeepers can searched stingless bees nest underground at the morning 9:00 to 10:00 AM and afternoon 4:00 to 5:00 AM during these time stingless bees are on foraging activities then directly observing nest entrances and the experienced beekeepers attached white thread extracted from inset leave on single worker stingless bee and then watching carefully where the thread attached stingless bee enter to the nest then the beekeeper put his own mark to the nest and come back during honey harvesting season in order to harvest honey by carefully excavation the nest and then return the dig out soil to the nest for the next honey harvest.
The productivity of stingless bees varies depending on species, availability of bee forage and the size of the stingless bee colony population. Experienced beekeepers can estimated the existence year of the colony through observing the guard bees on the nest entrance, if there is 3,4,5,6 guard bees existed in the nest entrance the beekeepers can say the nest exist three years, four years, five years and six years respectively and then they decided that there is more honey in the nest. The average productivity was 0.5-2.5 liters of honey harvested from one stingless bees nest per year some times in exceptional case can produced 3-4 liters of honey from one stingless bee nest when the nest existed more than 5-6 years. They can harvest only one time per year in January, May and June depending on availability of bee forage flowers and the season.
Marketing price of stingless bees honey is 3-4 times more expensive than honeybees honey which was 400-500 birr per litter during the study period, this varies based on availability of market and background information of the beekeeper about the current market price information.
Socio-economic and Ethno-medicinal importance's of stingless bees’ honey
The present study based on FGD result indicates that the stingless bee honey is used to treat a good range of ailments such as respiratory system infection diseases, Wound healing Properties, relieve coughs, and minimize bleedings and pains of mothers during giving birth, healing of joint pains. The current study is also in line with other scholars' research findings regarding to ethno-medicinal importance of stingless bees’ honey (Wondmeneh Genberie et.al, 2020).
Constraints of stingless beekeeping
Pertinent to constraints of stingless bees are attacks by several natural enemies, like pests and predators- ant, honey badger, rodents and fox. The current result in line with (Amenay Assefa, et.al, 2021) who reported that stingless bees are attacked by several natural enemies, which included honey badgers (21.2%), moles (19.8%), wasps (14.6%), termites (14.3%), ants (13.8%), foxes (13.1%) and snakes (3.2%). On the other hand from the FGD result the following constraints were raised. Cannot be find easily when un experienced beekeepers searching of stingless bee nest, much less honey production when compared to the Apis mellifera honey (Amenay Assefa, et.al, 2021) who reported stingless bees often produce only small amounts of honey, Shortage of technical skill, it’s difficultness to harvest honey- mixing with soils which means the nests of stingless bees are more complex than those of Apis mellifer, the colony cannot be survive for long production time-devastated during harvesting, flooding and naturally by itself it is constraint- full of difficulties. However many limitations were recorded on stingless beekeeping there were opportunities to provoke beekeepers to practice stingless beekeeping practice.
Physico-chemical properties of stingless bees honey/Meliponula beccarii/
From pollen analysis of honey samples the main and the most dominant stingless bees forage plants by their pollen counts are Maesa lancealata, Guizotiya Scarba, Vernonia, Phygeum africanum, Croton, Eucalyptus, Guizotiya, Terminalia, Baellardia trixaga, Pygeum africamin and Brassica carinata and there are also many stingless bee forages those pollen counts were minimum in the honey sample(in the Annex, Table 2).
Moisture content is one of the most important parameter to be considered in the quality of honey. Honey is an excellent hygroscopic product and has tendency to absorb atmospheric moisture and thus readily increase its moisture levels. Further, the moisture levels may also largely depend on methods of harvesting and extraction of honey which may differ from location, species and practices ( Bogdanov S. et al 1999). The overall mean moisture (% by mass) content of stingless bees honey in the study area was (32.5927) (Table 1). The current research result of stingless bees honey moisture content is slightly greater than (Alemayehu et.al, 2021) who reported the stingless bees honey moisture content was 29.6% in West shoa Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. The variation might be due to agro-ecology and soil type effects, but the stingless bees honey moisture content is below 25% in the developed countries.
Table 1:- Physico-chemical properties of stingless bees honey/Meliponula beccarii/ collected from South Omo Zone
parameters
|
N
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Mean
|
Std. Deviation
|
Moisture content (%)
|
15
|
28.30
|
37.50
|
32.5927
|
3.43066
|
PH value
|
15
|
3.03
|
4.50
|
3.4160
|
.34977
|
Acidity(meq/kg)
|
15
|
56.50
|
176.50
|
113.5667
|
27.75780
|
Ash content(g/100 g)
|
15
|
.03
|
.51
|
.2667
|
.12448
|
HMF(mg/kg)
|
15
|
.00
|
12.10
|
3.5067
|
4.05735
|
Fructose(%)
|
15
|
23.44
|
32.40
|
29.1060
|
2.88472
|
Glucose(%)
|
15
|
21.82
|
33.09
|
29.2953
|
3.11129
|
Sucrose(%)
|
15
|
.42
|
4.02
|
2.7820
|
.86329
|