A PROJECT REPORT ON

“RURAL AGRICULTURE WORK EXPERIENCE”

Submitted to

H.N.B. GARHWAL (CENTRAL UNIVERSITY)

SRINAGAR, UTTARAKHAND

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE

SUBMITTED BY:
Swadhin Dutta

Bsc. Agriculture 8th semester

BATCH:2017-2021
Roll No.:17243102138
Enrollment No.: G172430271

Under the supervision of

Dr. RAJENDRA PRASAD
KALA, H.O.D – AMITABH
SINGH, ANITA TRIVEDI

UTTARANCHAL (P.G) COLLEGE OF BIO-MEDICAL SCIENCES AND HOSPTIAL

SEWLA KHURD, TRANSPORT NAGAR ROAD, DEHRADUN -248001 UTTARAKHAND

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly. I thank God for providing me good health so that I could attend all my
training and learn much better about my project which I need to complete. I owe a
great many thanks to many people who helped and supported me during my project. It
would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals
and organisations.

I am grateful to my supervisor Dr. Rajendra Prasad Kala for his guidance and
supervision as well as for providing the necessary information regarding the project. I
would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Kala for his
encouragement and support.

I also wish to express my heartful thanks to the staff of the Office of Chief
Agriculture Officer Dehradun, Department of Horticulture and Food Processing
Uttarakhand, Gram Adharshila Krishak Swayat Saharika, and Doon Valley
Apiaries, for sparing their valuable time in helping me complete my report on Rural
Agriculture Work Experience.My heartfelt thanks to my classmates for their help in
developing the report without them it would not have been completed successfully.
The cooperation of all is very much appreciat ed.

Swadhin Dutta

Bsc. Agriculture 8th semester

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. SWADHIN DUTTA S/O SUBHAMAY DUTTA, student of
B.Sc.Agriculture 8th semester, Enrolment No, G172430271 Uttaranchal (p.g) college of Bio-
medical sciences and hospital, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, has completed his project/field work
entitled as “RAWE” program me on the following topics -

1. Food Processing & Preservation

2. Mushroom Cultivation
3. Apiculture (Bee Keeping)
4. Rural Survey

During the year 2021 under my guidance for partial fulfillment for his requirement in Bachelor
of Science in the field of Agriculture from HNB Garhwal university (Uttarakhand).He took keen
interest in all the stage of the project work and has gained valuable knowledge on the various
activities under RAWE. I wish him a grand success and good luck in his future life.

DATE: 18-08-2021

SUPERVISOR

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Kala

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
AGRICULTURE. – Amitabh Singh

& Anita Trivedi

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 RESEARCH AND WORK EXPERIENCE

INTRODUCTION

The most important area in which the development needs to accelerate is agriculture,
which is the backbone of a country’s economy. In order to spring about changes in the
knowledge, skill and attitude of the people engaged in farming, sustained effort is
necessary and thus could be achieved only through purposeful education. Rural
Agriculture Work Experience (R.A.W.E.) programme is for imparting quality,
practical productive oriented education for agriculture degree program. Effective
work experience training strategies incorporating rural agriculture experiment,
learning approaches providing opportunities for a student of the last year to engage in
field work activity to review and analyse activity and to draw some useful conclusion,
decision from analysis and apply the result in actual, practical and field situation.

OBJECTIVES OF RAWE PROGRAMME

I. To develop the understanding of community life and the different situation.

II. To familiarize with the socio-economic condition of farmer and their problems
with reference to agricultural development.

III. To provide an opportunity to the students for practical training in crop

production through work experience.

IV. To develop skills among students using extension teaching methods for
transfer of technology.

V. The RAWE is a learner centred approach of exposing students by using

principles of ‘learning by doing and seeing and believing to think and act on
their own’.

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 CONTENTS

S.no CONTENTS Page .no

1 FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION 10 - 30

2 MUSHROOM CULTIVATION 31 - 39

3 APICULTURE 40 - 73

4 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY,GRAM 74 – 80
PANCHAYAT,RAMPUR

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 UNIT-I FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION

INTRODUCTION
➢
PRINCIPLE OF PRESERVATION
➢
OBJECTIVES
➢
TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES
➢
GENERAL METHOD OF FRUIT PRESERVATION
➢
METHOD OF FOOD PRESERVATION ARE ESSENTIALLY OF 2 TYPES:-

1) PHYSICAL METHODS

2) CHEMICAL METHOD

➢
DURING THE PROJECT ANALYSIS, THE WORK DONE WERE BASED
ON:

1) ORANGE SQUASH

11
 2) JAM

3) JELLY

4) MIXED VEGETABLE PICKLE

5) TOMATO CHUTNEY

6) AONLA CANDY

7) MURABBA

INTRODUCTION

The green revolution and subsequent efforts through the application of science and
technology for increasing food production in India have brought self reliance in food.
The impetus given by the Government, State Agriculture universities, States
Department of Agriculture and other organization through the evolution &
introduction of numerous hybrid varieties of cereals, legumes , fruits and vegetables
and improved managements practices have resulted in increasing food production.

Fruits & vegetables, which are among the perishable commodities, are important
ingredients in the human dietaries. Due to their high nutritive value they make
significant nutritional contribution to human well-bring, they are the cheaper and
better source of protective foods.

The perishable fruits and vegetables are available as seasonal surpluses during parts of
the year in different regions and wasted in large quantities due to absence of facilities
and knowhow for proper handling distribution, marketing and storage.

Though the country is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the
world. More than 25 percent of fruits and vegetables production is unfortunately
wasted due to inadequate facilities for processing. The food preservation & processing
industry has now become a necessity. Fruits and vegetable processing was first started
in an organized manner in 1857, mainly to make pickles and chutneys with a view to

12
meeting the excess requirement of the people and canning of & vegetables was started
in 1927.

PRINCIPLE OF PRESERVATION

Principle of preservation is defined as the technique of extending storage life of

produce without deterioration in edible quality for its future use. It is based on
minimizing damage by spoilage causing agents. The broad principles involved in
preservation of horticultural produce are as follows:-

1) Prevention or delay of microbial decomposition

2) Prevention or delay of self decomposition of food

3) Prevention or minimization of damage by insect pests and diseases

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of fruits and vegetable processing is to supply wholesome safe
nutrition and acceptable food to consumers throughout the year. Fruit and vegetable
processing projects also aims to replace imported products like squashes, tomato
sauces, pickles etc. The fruit and vegetable processing activities have been setup or
have to the established in developing countries for one or other of the following
reason:-

1. Diversification of the economy in order to reduce present independence on

one export commodity.

2. Reduce fruits & vegetable looms

3. Reduction of imports and meeting export demand.

4. Stimulate agricultural production by obtaining marketable products

5. Generate both rural and urban employment

6. Develop new value added products

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TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE

New technique of food preservation became available to the home chef from the dawn
of agriculture until the industrial revolution.

i) Drying - Drying is one of the oldest techniques use to hamper the decomposition
of food products. Vegetables & fruits are naturally dried by the scene and wind,
but in the middle ages still house were built in areas that did not have enough.

ii) Refrigeration - Refrigeration preserve foods by slowing down and reproduction

of micro organism & the action of enzyme that cause food to rot.

iii) Freezing - Freezing is also one of the most commonly used processes both
commercially and domestically.

iv) Heating - Heating to temperatures which are sufficient to kill microorganism is a

method used with perpetual stews.

GENERAL METHOD OF FOOD PRESERVATION:-

These days ready to serve fruit products are becoming popular in the urban
market due to their nutritive value, refreshing qualities & changing life style of city
dwellers. People give preference to processed fruit products over synthetic because
of their artificial colour, flavour & nutrition, fruits can be preserved.

Some important factors:-

1) Selection

2) Sorting & washing

3) Extractions

4) Machines & equipments

5) Clarification & filtration of juice

6) Preparation

7) Adding additives

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 8) Exhausting

METHOD OF FOOD PRESERVATION:

They are of two types:

1. Physical methods

2. Chemical method

1. Physical methods involves various process:-

a) Refrigeration

b) Drying & dehydration

c) Freezing

d) Irradiation

e) Pasteurization

f) Sterilization

2. Chemical method involves various process for preserve fruits:-


Salt


Sugar


Vinegar


Potassium bisulphite


Sodium benzoate


Fermentation

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Scientific post harvest handling:-

1) Picking

2) Pre-cooling

3) Washing & cleaning

4) Sorting, grading, sizing

5) Waxing

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 6) Packing

7) Storage

1) Picking- injury cause by rough handling contributes to fast ripening, fungus

infection & rot detachment of stem at the time of harvest.

2) Precooking- Precooking is important for most fruits & vegetable because they may
deteriorate as much in one hour. In addition to removal of disease causing
microorganisms, precooking reduces damage caused from vibration transmits. There
are many methods of precooking 1) cold air, 2) cold water, c) direct content with ice,
evaporation of water from the produce.

3) Working- Before, fresh, fruits & vegetables typically involve the removal of soil,
dust insect pest residents and chlorine in fresh water.

4) Sorting & grading & sizing- sorting in one hand to remove the produce unsuitable
for market or storage due to damage by insect, diseases or mechanical injuring.

5) Waxing- A method used for fresh fruits & vegetable quality maintenance during
handling.

6) Packing- proper or scientific packing of fresh fruits reduces the wastage of

commodities by protecting them from mechanical damage, moisture loss &
undesirable physiological changes & during the case of storage. There are following
benefits:-

a) Protection from mechanical damages & moisture loss

b) Proper handling

c) Reduced cost of handling transport & working

d) Improve sale

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DURING THE PROJECT ANALYSIS THE WORK DONE WERE
BASED ON:

a) Orange Squash

b) Mixed vegetable pickle

c) Jam

d) Jelly

e) Tomato chutney

f) Aonla candy

g) Murabba

ORANGE SQUASH
Ingredients

A. Water – 600 ml
B. Sugar – 1 kg
C. Citric Acid (powder)- 10 g
D. Potassium meta- bisulphate - few drops

Method / procedure:

1. Clean the orange.

2. Drain water
3. Extract the juice by juicer.

4. Strain the juice by muslin cloth.

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 5. Make sugar syrup.

6. Add sugar and citric acid, water and boil.

7. Fill sugar completely till it dissolves and stir continuously.

8. Strain the sugar and keep it till it completely cools

9. Mix the orange juice and sugar syrup.

10. Add potassium meta- bisulphate by dissolving little water.

11. Add food colour.

12. Strain it and fill in sterilized bottle and store in cool dry place.

Precaution: Do not mix orange juice with sugar when syrup is hot otherwise the
juice will become sour.

JAM
Jam is a product made by boiling fruit pulp with sufficient sugar to a season ably
which consistency firm enough to hold the fruit tissues in position. Jam contains 0.5-
0.6 percent acid and sugar should not be more than 40%.

Ingredients

1. Apple- 3 kg
2. Sugar -2 kg
3. Citric Acid- 2 teaspoon
4. Food Colour- Few Drops
5. Sodium benzoate- 5 ml

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 Boiling the fruits

TECHNOLOGICAL FLOW SHEET FOR PROCESSING OF JAM

a) Firm fruits.

b) Washing.

c) Peeling.

d) Pulping (remove seed and core).

e) Addition of sugar (add water if necessary).

f) Pressurize at five whistles (if pressure cooker is available).

g) Boiling (with continuous stirring).

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h) Addition of citric acid.

i) Judging of end-point.

j) By further cooking up to 1050C or 68-70% TSS or by sheet test.

k) Cooling.

l) Waxing.

m) Filling hot into sterilized bottles.

n) Capping after cooling the jam.

o) Storage (at ambient temperature).

Preparation of Jam

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Precaution: Keep stirring during the whole heating and cooling process.

Result: 2 kg 600 g of jam was obtained.


Problems in production:-

(i) Crystallization: The final product should contain 30 to 50% invert sugar.
If the percentage is less than 30, cane sugar may crystallize out on storage.

(ii) Sticky or gummy farm: Because of high percentage of total soluble

solids, jams tend to become gummy or sticky. This problem can be solved
by addition of pectin or citric acid.

(iii) Premature Setting: This is due to low total soluble solids and high pectin
content in the jam and can be prevented by adding more sugar.

(iv) Surface graining & shrinkage: This is caused by evaporation of moisture

during storage of jam.

(v) Microbial spoilage: This is due to deterioration of pharmaceutical

products by the contaminant microbe

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 JELLY
A Jelly is a semi-solid product prepared by boiling a clear strained solution of pectin
containing fruit extract, free from pulp, after the addition of sugar and acid. A perfect
jelly should be transparent, well set but not too stiff and should be of attractive colour
& keep its shape.

Ingredients

1. Guava- 2.5 kg

2. Sugar- 2 kg

3. Citric Acid- 10 g

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TECHNOLOGICAL FLOW CHART FOR PROCESSING OF JELLY

1) Fruit (firm, not over-ripe)

2) Washing.

3) Cutting into thin slices.

4) Boiling with water (11/2 time the weight of fruit for about 20-30 minutes).

5) Addition of citric acid during boiling (2 g per kg of fruits).

6) Straining of extract.

7) Pectin test (for addition of sugar).

8) Addition of sugar.

9) Boiling.

10) Judging of end-point (sheet/drop/temperature test).

11) Removal of scum or foam (one teaspoonful edible oil added for 45kg sugar)

12) Colour and remaining citric acid added.

13) Waxing (paraffin wax).

14) Filling hot into clean sterilized bottles.

15) Capping.

16) Storage at ambient temperature.

Precaution:

A) During the boiling process, fanning is necessary.

the surds as surds spoil the texture of the product.

B) Remove surds

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 Removing of surds

MIXED VEGETABLE PICKLE

Ingredients

A. Cauliflower, Carrot, Green Chilly

B. Spices- Fenugreek seeds, Saunf, Turmeric powder, Garam Masala – 500 g,

Asafetida ( Hing)

C. Salt- 80%

D. Oil- 800 ml+ 200 ml

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PROCESSING FLOW CHART FOR MIXED VEGETABLE PICKLE

a) Clean, fresh vegetables

b) Washing
c) Cutting
d) Putting slices in vessel
e) Oil- 800 ml
f) Sprinkling salt
g) Mixing spices
h) Remaining oil- 200 ml
i) Store at ambient temperature

TOMATO CHUTNEY

Ingredients
A. Tomato -5kg
B. Sugar – 3.5 kg
C. Melon Seeds- 200 g, Cashew nut- 200 g, Raisins- 100 g
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 D. Red Chilli Powder- 50g, Garam Masala – 200 g
E. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 100 g
F. Salt to taste
G. Food Colour
H. Vinegar 10ml and sodium benzoate 3.5 g

Result:500kg 800 g

Precaution: The chutney should not be sticky during the stirring process.

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 AONLA CANDY

INGREDIENTS
A. Aonla candy -2kg
B. Sugar -2kg
C. Citric acid -20g
METHOD
a) Preparation of sugar syrup (addition of 765g of sugar in 500ml of water)
b) Addition of citric acid
c) Soaking the fruit for 24hrs
d) Boiling of sugar syrup to Bx
e) Addition of remaining sugar
f) Soaking for 24hrs and increased the bx to 70 bxfor 70 days
g) Aonla pieces and sugar (1:1.5)
h) Packed the aonla preserve in glass jar
i) Dried in shade to get aonla candy

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 Boiled Aonla

Aonla mixed with sugar powder

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 CARROT MURABBA

Ingredients

1. Carrot - 2kg

2. Sugar - 1 – 1.5kg

3. Water - 500ml

4. Citric acid - 5 – 7 gm

5. Color - 15 gm
6. Essence - 6 – 8 ml

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Preparation of carrot murabba :

a) Carrot fruit
b) Washing
c) Peeling/deseeding/decoring
d) Pulping
e) Addition of sugar
f) Citric acid and pectin
g) Cooking (TSS:68-700C)

Carrot mixed in sugar solution

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 UNIT-II:-MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

INTRODUCTION

➢ ORIGIN AND BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

➢ PRODUCTION AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

➢ MARKET ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY

➢ PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

➢ CROP MANAGEMENT

➢ POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT

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INTRODUCTION

Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sp.) belonging to Class Basidiomycetes and

Family Agaricaceae is popularly known as ‘dhingri’ in India and grows naturally in
the temperate and tropical forests on dead and decaying wooden logs or sometimes on
dying trunks of deciduous or coniferous woods. The fruit bodies of this mushroom are
distinctively shell or spatula shaped, with different shades of white, grey, yellow, pink
or light brown depending upon the species.

It is one of the most suitable fungal organisms for producing protein rich food from
various agro-wastes or forest wastes without composting.

ORIGIN
Cultivation of a species of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) was initiated on
experimental basis in Germany by Flack during the year 1917 on tree stumps and
wood logs. Growing technology was perfected in USA by Block, Tsao and Hau.
Cultivation of different varieties of oyster mushroom was initiated in India in the
early sixties. Commercial cultivation began in mid-seventies.

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
The oyster mushrooms have three distinct parts- a fleshy shell or spatula shaped cap
(pileus) , a short or long lateral or central stalk called stipe and long ridges and
furrows underneath the pileus called gills or lamellae. The gills stretch from the edge
of the cap down to the stalk and bear the spores. The spores are smooth, cylindrical
and germinate very easily on any kind of mycological media within 48-96 hrs. The
mycelium of Pleurotus is pure white.

PRODUCTION
Oyster mushrooms are the third largest cultivated mushroom in the world. China, the
world leader in Oyster production, contributes nearly 85% of the total world
production of about a million tonnes. The other countries producing oyster
mushrooms include Korea, Japan, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand and Philippines. The
present production of this crop in India is only around 1500 tonnes due to low

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domestic demand. Another inhibiting factor is that export demand orders are large and
can be met only if a linkage is developed between producer, cooperatives and
exporters.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
The economic importance of the mushroom lies primarily in its use as food for human
consumption. It is rich in Vitamin C and B complex and the protein content varies
between 1.6 to 2.5 percent. It has most of the mineral salts required by the human
body. The niacin content is about ten times higher than any other vegetables.

The folic acid present in oyster mushrooms helps to cure anaemia. It is suitable for
people with hyper-tension, obesity and diabetes due to its low sodium: potassium
ratio, starch, fat and calorific value. Alkaline ash and high fibre content makes them
suitable for consumption for those having hyperacidity and constipation. A polycyclic
aromatic compound pleurotin has been isolated from P. griseus which possess
antibiotic properties.

The spent straw can be re-cycled for growing oyster mushroom after supplementing
with wheat or rice bran @ 10-15 % and also for preparing compost of white button
mushroom after suitable supplementation with nitrogen rich horse or chicken manure
(sun-dried before use). The spent straw can be used as cattle feed and also for bio-gas
production.

MARKET ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY

Demand and Supply Patterns
This mushroom is not as popular as white button mushroom in the domestic market.
Cultivation of this mushroom on commercial basis would be more profitable as
compared to white button mushroom as the capital costs are low.

The cultivation of this variety of mushroom is very simple and economical in rural
areas where raw materials and facilities required are easily available.

Marketing of fresh oyster mushroom does not pose any problem at present due to very
low production. However, as production increases linkage of producers with domestic
markets and export oriented processing units will need to be developed to ensure
remunerative prices to the producers. Generally, export orders are too big to be met by

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a single grower and as such co-operatives have to be encouraged to pool their produce
for trading the crop in a dried powder form in international markets.

Import / Export Trends

About 11,797 tonnes of fresh
mushrooms and 4,099 tonnes of
preserved mushrooms were
exported to foreign countries viz.
U.S.A., France, Ireland, U.A.E,
Russia etc. During the period of
2001-2002. The quantity of oyster
mushroom exported is much
lower than that of button
mushrooms which constitute the
major share of exports.

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Agro-climatic Requirements
Oyster mushroom can grow at moderate temperature ranging from 20 to 300 C and
humidity 55-70% for a period of 6 to 8 months in a year. It can also be cultivated in
summer months by providing the extra humidity required for its growth. In hilly areas
above 900m (m.s.l.), the best growing season is during March/April to September/
October and in the lower regions from September/October to March/April.

Growing and Potential Belts

The major states in India producing this mushroom are Orissa, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and most of the North
Eastern hill states.

Varieties Cultivated
Among all the cultivated mushrooms Pleurotus has maximum number of
commercially cultivated species suitable for round the year cultivation. All the
varieties or species of oyster mushroom are edible except P. olearius and P. nidiformis
which are poisonous. Species commercially cultivated all over the world during

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summer months includes P. flabelltus, P. sajor cajo, P. sapidus, P.membranaceous,
P.citrinopileatus, P.eous etc. and those produced during winter are P.ostreatus,
P.florida, P.cornucopiae, P.fossulatus, P.eryngii etc.

Cultivation Technology
The procedure for oyster mushroom cultivation can be divided into following four
steps:

(i) Preparation or procurement of spawn

(ii) Substrate preparation

(iii) Spawning of substrate

(iv) Crop management

Hanging Method
 Spawn Preparation
A pure culture of Pleurotus sp. is needed for inoculation on sterilized
substrate. It takes 10-15 days for mycelial growth on cereal grains. It has been
reported that jowar and bajra grains are superior over wheat grains.

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 Spawn

Substrate Preparation
Oystermushroom can be cultivated on a large number of agro-wastes having
cellulose and lignin which helps in more enzyme production of cellulose that is
correlated with more yield. These include straw of paddy, wheat and finger millet,
stalk and leaves of maize, millets and cotton, used citronella leaf, sugarcane bagasse,
saw dust, jute and cotton waste, dehulled corncobs, pea nut shells, dried grasses,
sunflower stalks, used tea leaf waste, discarded waste paper and synthetic compost of
button mushrooms etc. It can also be cultivated by using industrial wastes like paper
mill sludge, coffee by products, tobacco waste, apple pomace etc.

The popular methods of substrate preparation are:

a. Steam Pasteurization;

b. Hot Water Treatment;

c. Sterile Technique (Till method);

d. Fermentation or Composting; and

e. Chemical Sterilization.


Spawning of Substrate
Freshly prepared (20-30 days old) grain spawn is best for spawning. Old spawn (3-6
months) stored at room temperature (at20-300 C) forms a very thick mat- like structure
due to mycelium aggregation and sometimes young pinheads and fruit

38
bodies start developing in the spawn bottle itself. The spawning should be done in a
pre-fumigated room (48hrs with 2% formaldehyde).

 Crop Management

(A) Incubation

Spawned bags, trays or boxes are arranged in a dark cropping room on raised
platforms or shelves for mycelium colonization of the substrate. Although mycelium
can grow from 10 to 330 C, but the optimum temperature for spawn running lies
between 220- 260 C.

(B) Fruiting

When the mycelium has fully colonized the substrate, the fungus is ready for fruiting.
Contaminated bags with moulds may be discarded while bags with mycelial growth
may be left for few more days to complete the mycelial growth.

While various species require different temperature regimes all require high humidity
(70- 85%) during fruiting. Frequent spraying of water is required in the cropping
room depending upon atmospheric humidity. Fruit body produced under humid
conditions (85 -90%) is bigger with less dry matter while those developed at 65-70%
relative humidity are small with high dry matter.

CO2 concentration during cropping should be less than 600 ppm or 0.6%. Sufficient
ventilation has to be provided during fruiting.

Plant Protection Measures

The crop is suspect to attacks from flies (sciarid, cecid) spring tails and mites.
Timely spraying with insect specific insecticides is needed.
The crop is prone to fungal diseases. Several competitor moulds e.g. Aspergillus sp.,
Cladosporium sp. and Fusarium sp., Rhizopus sp. have been reported to occur in the
substrate used for cultivation. Spraying with Bavistin or Benomyl is a recommended.
The crop is also subject to diseases like yellow blotch, brown spot and bacterial rot,
control measures include:

I. Proper management of temperature and humidity during growing period.

39
 II. Regular application of chlorinated water containing 100 – 150 ppm of freely
available chlorine at an interval of 3 – 5 days.

III. Application of oxytetracycline and streptocycline

.
Harvesting and Yield
The right shape for picking can be judged by the shape and size of the fruit body.
The fruit bodies should be harvested before spore release, by twisting so that the stubs
are not left on the beds (straw). It is advisable to pick all the mushrooms at one time
from a cube and the next flush will appear at one time.

More than 500 kg of fresh mushrooms per ton of dry wheat or straw can be obtained
in case of crop produced in 45-60 days

POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT

Storage
(A) Short-term Storage
Freshmushroom are packed in perforated polythene bags which are directly sent
to the local market situated nearby. Freshly harvested mushrooms can be stored at low
temperature (0-50 C) for 1-2 weeks without loss in quality in case it is to be sent to the
distant markets.

(B) Long-term Storage

Dried mushroom with 2-4% moisture can be stored for 3-4 months in sealed pouches
without any change in taste. The dried produce can be rehydrated in lukewarm water
(40-500 C) within 20-30 minutes, giving 80-90% of original weight.

Packing and Transportation

Freshmushrooms are packed in perforated polythene bags. Poly pouches containing
crushed ice and overwrapped in paper, put in trays/baskets which are then covered
with thin polythene sheet with sufficient perforation for proper aeration. The pre-
packed pouches (250 or 500 g.) can be transported by roadways in trucks, buses.

Marketing
Domestic marketing does not pose a problem at present because only small quantities

40
are being traded. As production develops, marketing promotion measures will need to
be undertaken to bolster the demand. Export potential exists and needs to be taken
advantage of by organizing cooperatives of producers linked to commercial units for
processing fresh mushroom into dehydrated powder for export.

41
 UNIT-3 APICULTURE

INTRODUCTION
➢
HONEY FACTS
➢
HONEY HEALTH BENEFITS
➢
THE HONEYBEES
➢
CLASSIFICATION OF APIS MELLIFERA
➢
ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY
➢
THE QUEEN
➢
DRONES
➢
WORKERS
➢
ORIGIN OF THE THREE TYPES OF BEE
➢
DIVISION OF LABOUR
➢
BEE-KEEPING

➢
WHY BEEKEEPING

➢
HONEY BEE PRODUCTS

➢
MARKETING OF BEE PRODUCTS
➢
MAJOR CONSTRAINTS FOR DEVELOPING BEEKEEPING
➢
CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
42
Beekeeping (or apiculture derived from Latin word: apis ‘‘bee’’) is the maintenance
of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper (or apiarist)
keeps bees in order to collect their honey and other products that the hive produces
(including beeswax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly) as well as to pollinate crops or to
produce bees for other bee keepers. A location where bees are kept is called an apiary
or ‘‘bee yard.’’ Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000
years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian era around 4,500 years
ago. Simple hives and smoke were used and honey was stored in jars. It wasn’t until
the 18th century that European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees
allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested
without destroying the entire colony. This topic, thus, can be studied under three
subheads:


Honeybees

Beekeeping

Bee products

Honey Facts

Nutrient Percentage
Water 17.20 %
Fructose 38.29 %
Glucose 31.28 %
Sucrose 1.31 %
Maltose 7.21 %
Carbohydrates 1.54 %
Acid 0.57 %
Protien 0.26%
Minerals 0.17%
Enzymes, Vitamins etc 2.21%

43
Honey is a supersaturated sugar solution with approximately 17.1 percent water.
Fructose is the predominant sugar at 38.5 percent, followed by glucose at 31 percent.
Disaccharides, trisaccharides and oligosaccharides are present in much smaller
quantities. Besides carbohydrates, honey contains small amounts of protein,
(including enzymes), vitamins and minerals.

Honey yields 64 calories per tablespoon, making it a more concentrated source of

energy than other common sweeteners. While the amino acid content is minor, the
broad spectrum of approximately 18 essential and nonessential amino acids present in
honey is unique and varies by floral source. Proline is the primary amino acid with
lysine being the second most prevalent. Other amino acids found in honey include
phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamic and aspartic acids. The glutamic acid is a product of
the glucose oxidase reaction, 13 Proline and other amino acids are contributed by
pollens, nectar or bee themselves.

Honey Health Benefits

Honey is a popular sweetener throughout the world. According to an Associated
Marketing survey conducted for the National Honey Board in 1997, almost 77 % of

U.S. households use honey along with other sweeteners and syrups and 45 % of them
consider honey a good value because it is “natural/good for you/better for you than
sugar.”

44
45
Overall, honey has a positive profile with nearly 62 % of users “especially liking” it
for its taste and flavour, 24 % because it is natural and 16 % because it is good for
you. From ancient times, honey was not only used as a natural sweetener but also as a
healing agent. Many health-promoting and curative properties attributed to it are the

basis for some traditional folk medicine treatments throughout the world today.

Honey was prescribed for a variety of uses including baldness, contraception and as a
wound treatment. Frequently honey was mixed with herbs, grains, and other
botanicals. Uses that have continued into modern folk medicine include treatment for
coughs and sore throats, lotus honey for eye diseases in India, infected leg ulcers in
Ghana, ear aches in Nigeria, topical treatment of measles in the eyes to prevent
corneal scaring, gastric ulcers and constipation.

The past two decades have brought a resurgence of interest in learning more about
antimicrobial and wound healing properties of honey. Studies conducted in various
parts of the world indicate the following:

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 I. Honey is a natural source of energy for the body. Sugars are the fundamental
unit of energy for our bodies. Honey is high in monosaccharide glucose and
fructose. These sugars are quickly absorbed, providing the body with boost of
energy. Doctors say that these sugars works best to enhance athletic
performance and prevent fatigue.

II. Dr. Susan Percival found the honey is rich in vitamins, amino acids, calcium,
iron, magnesium and zinc-, all of which are essentials to good health. Honey
contains several compounds that function as antioxidants. Antioxidants play a
large role in the prevention of cancer and heart disease.

III. Honey has anti-inflammatory effects. It is used to relieve sore throat pain.

IV. Honey is a carbohydrate and will increase the level of tryptophan amino acid
that is used in the production of serotonin which is a neurotransmitter in the
brain that will induce a sense of calm and drowsiness. That is why some
people drink a cup of water with a spoonful of honey before sleep.

V. In recent research, it was demonstrated that in a survey of 100 people aged

over 100 years old, over 80% of them regularly consumed honey. Honey
benefits human longevity due to its high-energy action, and the presence of
chemical elements, vitamins and enzymes that are important for the good
operation of the human body.

1. THE HONEYBEE

A. History of the honeybees:

Honeybees have been used as a weapon in the World War 1 when infuriated swarms
were released to hamper the entry of forces in Belgium. The mysterious property of
bee venom of relieving muscular pain and aches of sciatica, rheumatism and arthritis
has also been known for a long time.

While primitive methods of beekeeping have been practiced in almost every country
from the times immemorial, more rewarding scientific method came into being only
after the discovery of Movable Frame Hive in 1851 by Revd. L.L. Langstroth. In
India, this method first came to Bengal in 1882 and then to the Punjab in 1883.

47
Beekeeping was taken to the South by Rev. Newton in 1911. After the
recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture to develop beekeeping as
a cottage industry, (1928), the practice got a fillip in Madras (1931), Punjab (1933)
and U.P (1938). In India it is almost unknown despite the fact that it being a tropical
country can provide flowers of one or the other kind all round the year making
individual beekeeping profitable. It is time that this sweet and rewarding pastime is
popularized in our country too.

B. Kind of honeybees:

There are some 20,000 kinds of bees, all belonging to the insect order Hymenoptera.
Of them, three families of social bees are honey producing. They are Bombidae,
Meliponidae and Apidae. The Bombidae are mainly temperate which keep their
broods and honey in separate waxen pots(not combs).The Meliponidae are stingless
bees, some of them making waxen pots, some others horizontal combs and just one,
Trigonastaudingeri of Africa making vertical combs. The Apidae, on the other hand,
is the main honey producing family. Its four species Apis dorsata, Apis indica, Apis
florea and Apis mellifera are most popular with beekeeping industry. Of them, the
first three are Indian and the last, European species that has been introduced into
every country of the world due to its good honey gathering quality. We shall briefly
describe these species in the following paragraphs:-

Apis dorsata:

Apis dorsata

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Apis dorsata also called the rock bees and giant bees, these insects are the largest of
all the bees. They are found all over India from the hilly tracts (1200 m) to the plains.
They make the largest hives -6 ft long and 3 ft deep that hang from high rocks and tall
trees, several per tree, 6 dozens to 156 hive s have been counted on a single silk –
cotton tree in India. Perhaps they leave a scent that helps them identify the place.
They make single vertical comb, with very industrious produce of about 36 kg honey
per colony per year but unfortunately they are also the most ferocious not sparing
their victim even inside the water. Their poison can kill a man.

Apis indica:

Apis indica or Indian bee is medium-sized bee and spread over to Pakistan, Srilanka,
South East Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, China and Japan. In India two varieties: the
hill variety or Gandhiana, darker and larger and plain variety, Indica, smaller and
yellow variety, are recognized. The bees make parallel combs on trees, termitaries,
hollows of rocks and all kinds of cavities. Its honey yield is 3.6 to4.5 kg on the hills
and 1.3 to 2.2 kg on the plains. It can be domesticated and, therefore, attempts have
been made to produce a hybrid between it and A. Dorsata, but it has failed. The
negative quality of these bees is that it is prone to swarming and absconding and is
helpless against the wax moth.

Apis florea:

Apis florea or the little bee is the smallest of all the bees. It is found all over the
plains, never above 450 m. It makes a single vertical comb of the size of palm

49
suspended from branches of bushes, buildings, caves, chimneys, empty cases. It
remains in the open and do not stand captivity. It does not easily sting and so is
mistaken for a stingless bee though it possesses a sting. Its honey yield is poor, about
½ kg of honey.

Apis florea

Apis mellifera:

Apis mellifera or the European bee has originated in Italy and been introduced in all
countries of the world.

The behaviour and looks of Apis mellifera are so similar to those of Apis indica that
they can be easily mistaken for the other. They make their nest in enclosed spaces in
parallel combs, endowed with all the good qualities of a hive. The bees– have a
prolific queen, swarm less, gentle tempered so domisticable, good honey gatherers
and can guard their nest against enemies except wasps. They make numerous colonies
-500 being the common number in USA, and the honey yield averages 45-181kg per
colony per year in the USA though 453 kg has been claimed in the same country and
even 959 kg by an individual beekeeper in Africa. They have adapted themselves well
to modern methods of movable frame hives and, therefore they are the darlings of
beekeeping industry worldwide.

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 Apis mellifera

Brief description of Apis mellifera

In India Apis mellifera are mostly cultivated in every area because of their nature,
behaviour and the good quality of honey. They makes their nest in enclosed spaces in
parallel combs. So, for this, we can easily make their colony and cultivate them
properly. They gather good amount of honey in their comb and the quality of honey is
good as compare to others. The honey yield is much better than the other bees. So,
here we discuss about Apis mellifera briefly:

Classification of Apis mellifera:

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Insecta

Order Hymenoptera

Family Apidae

Genus Apis
Species mellifera

Trinomial name
Apis mellifera capensis

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Structure:

The bodies of bees are divided into head, thorax and abdomen, with three pairs of legs
and two pairs of wings on the thorax. The fore and hind wings on each side are linked
by hooks and grooves so that they move together in flight.

The mouth parts consist of a "tongue" or labium, which can be enclosed near the head
by the labial palps and maxillae. Nectar, from the nectaries of flowers, can be drawn
up the grooved surface of the labium, partly by capillary attraction and partly by the
pumping action of muscles in the head. When not in use, these elongated mouth parts
are folded back under the head, leaving the shorter, stouter mandibles free in front to
chew pollen, manipulate wax, attack intruders etc.

The ovipositor, through which the queen lays her eggs in the wax cell, is modified in
the workers to form a sting.

Organization of the colony:

There are four species of Apis, the honey-bee, one of which is Apis mellifera, the
Western honey-bee, which is the commonest hive-bee in this country. There are three
kinds of bee in a colony: in the summer, a few hundred drones or males, one egg-
laying female, or queen, and from 20 to 80 thousand sterile females or workers. The
mature queen is usually easily recognized by her large abdomen.

Bee Boxes

52
53
The Queen:

A queen bee may live from two to five years and, except for a short period at the end
of her life when one of her daughters takes over the colony, she is the only egg-laying
female. All members of the colony, whether drones or workers, are her offspring. She
spends all her time laying eggs, perhaps up to 1500 a day, each one being placed in a
wax cell made by the workers. The queen can feed herself but in the hive the nearest
workers turn towards her, lick her body and feed her by regurgitating a special
secretion of their salivary glands, called "royal jelly", on to their probosces from
which the queen can absorb it.

The queen usually mates only once in her life (though second and third matings are
known to happen) and stores the sperms received from the drone in a sperm sac in her
abdomen. This store of sperms lasts her for the two or more years of egg-laying, a
small quantity being released with each fertilized egg laid.

When the store of sperms is used up she may continue to lay eggs but they are all
unfertilized and will become drones. By this time one of her daughters will be reared
as a queen and ready to take over the egg-laying.

Queen

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Life history:
Each egg is laid in one of the hexagonal wax cells and hatches into a tiny, white,
legless larva. The larva feeds on substances deposited in the cell by the workers; it
grows, pupates in the cell, hatches as an adult bee and finally emerges from the cell
into the hive. The eggs hatch after three to four days and by ninth day are fully grown
and ready to pupate. The workers put a capping over the cells at this time. Ten or
eleven days later the capping is bitten away and the adult emerges. The times given

above may vary with changes of temperature and according to whether the bee is
becoming a drone, worker or queen.

Queen shel

55
Drones:

The drones, who live for about four to five weeks and do not work inside the hive, are
fed by the workers or help themselves from the store of pollen and nectar in the
combs. Their function is to fertilize a new queen. In the autumn, or when conditions
are poor, they are turned out of the hive where, unable to find food for themselves,
they soon die.

Differing stages of development:

Sta ge of
Queen Worke Drone
development
r
Egg 3 days 3 days 3 days
10 13 days :Successive moults occur
Larva 8 days
days within this 8 to 13 day period
Cell Capped day 8 day 8 day 10
Pupa 4 days 8 days 8 days
15 21
Total 24 days
days days
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 Period Work activity
Days 1-3 Cleaning cells and incubation
Day 3-6 Feeding older larvae
Day 6-10 Feeding younger larvae
Day 8-16 Receiving nectar and pollen from field bees
Day 12-18 Bee wax making and cell building
Day 14 onwards Entrance guards; nectar, pollen, water and
propolis foraging; robbing other hives

Workers:
The workers are female bees whose reproductive organs do not function. Among
many other tasks they collect food from outside the hive and store it, make the wax
cells and feed the developing eggs. Almost all the bees in a hive are female worker
bees. At the height of summer when activity in the hive is frantic and work goes on

57
non-stop, the life of a worker bee may be as short as 6 weeks; in late autumn, when no
brood is being raised and no nectar is being harvested, a young bee may live for 16
weeks, right through the winter. During its life a worker bee performs different work
functions in the hive, largely dictated by the age of the bee.

Worker
Life of a Queen:
When a new queen emerges she is fed by the workers. She bites a hole in any other
occupied queen cells that she finds and some observers believe she stings the
occupants. In any event, the workers usually tear down the other queen cells that have
been bitten into and destroy the occupants.

For a few days the queen leaves the hive for short flights lasting, at first, only a
minute but gradually lengthening to about 15 minutes. During these flights she learns
the geography of the district around the hive. On one of these flights she is pursued by
drones, but not necessarily from her own hive; in fact, they do not follow her from the
hive but are already waiting outside. One of them catches the queen and mates with
her, depositing in her vagina sperms which eventually find their way into her sperm
sac. She now returns to the hive, and soon after begins to lay eggs.

From glands in her head, the queen produces a mixture of chemicals called
pheromones. When the workers ‘lick’ her body, the pheromones suppress their
fertility. When, at the end of her life, the queen ceases to produce these pheromones.
Some workers start to lay eggs which, being unfertilized, produce only drones. They
do, however, start building new queen cells.

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 Queen Box
Division of Labour:
The tasks undertaken by a worker bee depend partly on its age and partly on the
immediate needs of the colony. Generally speaking, the worker’s life follows the
course described below, although the times given are very approximate and in many
cases may not apply.

After hatching, she is fed by other workers and spends a good deal of time standing
still on the comb. She does, however, clean out cells from which bees have recently
hatched by removing the cast larval cuticles. On the fourth day she feeds on honey
from the store cells and eats a good deal of pollen. Between the third and fifth day she
feeds older larvae by placing nectar, water and pollen in their cells.

The pollen that she eats is rich in protein and helps her salivary, brood food glands to
become active, so that by the fifth day they can secrete the brood food or royal jelly
which is fed to the younger larvae. After ten or twelve days these glands cease to
function effectively but wax glands on the underside of her abdomen begin to secrete
wax which the worker uses for comb-building and repair. By this time she is also
beginning to leave the hive for short flights during which she learns the position of the
hive and the topography of the surroundings.

Between the twelfth and twenty-first days these reconnaissance flights continue; while
in the hive, the worker collects pollen and nectar from the incoming field bees and
stores it in the cells. She also processes the nectar and begins its conversion to honey,
and cleans the hive by removing the dead bees and detritus from its floor.

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After three weeks of hive duties the worker becomes a forager and spends the daylight
hours collecting water, nectar, pollen and propolis (see below) and carrying it back to
the hive. This work she may continue for about three weeks before she dies.

The "schedule" given above is by no means rigid, and observers have recorded bees
doing several of the duties mentioned at the same time, as well as old bees performing
"nurse" duties, and young bees foraging. Some of the duties may be missed out
altogether. For example, only a few of the young foragers do duty as guard bees,
protecting the hive from invasion by robber bees.

Colony of Honeybees
Food:
The foraging workers collect nectar from the nectaries of flowers. The nectar is drawn
off from the nectaries by the long labium. It is pumped up and swallowed into the
honey sac, a region of the gut from which it can be regurgitated on reaching the hive.
Nectar is a watery sugar solution when collected, but it is processed by the house bees
to which it is passed. These workers repeatedly swallow it, mix it with enzymes and
regurgitate it. The enzyme action and the evaporation of water result finally in its
conversion to honey. Nectar contains very little protein, and the pollen collected by
the foragers makes up this deficiency.

Pollen is collected by combing off with the legs the grains which adhere to the bee's
body after it has visited a flower. The pollen collected on the head, and removed by
the front legs, is mixed with a little nectar and passed to the back legs which have
combed pollen from the abdomen. The pollen press, in the joint between the tibia and

60
tarsus of the hind legs, squeezes the pollen which is passed to it from the pollen comb
of the opposite hind leg. The pollen and nectar paste is thus pushed by the press into
the pollen basket on the tibia, where it is retained by the fringe of setae. All this may
be done while the bee hovers in the air or while hanging from the flower. The forager
returns to the hive with the two packs of pollen and pushes them off into an empty
cell or into one with some pollen already in it.

The younger house bees then break up the pollen masses and pack them down into the
cell. When the cell is full it may be covered with a little nectar and sealed over. Both
pollen and honey sealed in the store cell are eaten by the bees in the winter months
when no other food is available. Water is collected and used to dilute the nectar with
which the larvae are fed, but there is no evidence of water being stored .

Propolis is a resinous substance that the bees collect from trees and sticky buds. They
use it for sealing small cracks and gaps in the hive.

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 Swarming net
When the size of the colony reaches a certain stage, usually in spring or summer when
the nectar flow is at its greatest, the queen and a great many workers, leave the hive in
a swarm. The swarm comes to rest in a great cluster on a tree branch or similar
situation. Scout bees, who may have left the hive some days before, seek out a
suitable situation for a new nest and return to the swarm and communicate this
information, whereupon the whole swarm moves off to the new site. In the old hive,
one of the new queens hatches out, mates, and takes over the colony that is left.

Senses and communication:

The senses of touch and smell, particularly through the antennae, are very important
to bees in finding sources of food, in identifying members of their own colony, and
sometimes in finding their way home. Their compound eyes are sensitive to certain
groups of colours though colour-blind to red. In the darkness of the hive they must
depend on touch and smell to carry out their activities. They find their way to and
from the hive by learning the landmarks in the vicinity and steering by the position of
the sun.

A bee which has found a rich source of food will return to the hive and execute a
dance on the surface of the comb. It takes the form of a figure eight with a straight
section in the middle. In addition, the dancer may make waggling movements of her
body on the straight section, which indicates distance. From time to time the dancer
stops and, regurgitating a little of the nectar she has collected from the flowers, she
feeds the attentive workers. The dance pattern, the taste of the nectar and sometimes
the scent of the flowers on the dancer's body enable the workers to find the feeding
ground from which the dancer has just returned.

2. Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the actual commercial part of apiculture. Unfortunately it is not very

popular in India as it is in western countries. Many people here even do not know it
can be as engaging and profitable as profession as poultry farming, horticulture and
pisciculture etc. The reasons are that it is firstly not eye –catching secondly, people

62
are not familiar with the technique of this trade. USA produces 2,42,000,00 pounds of
honey worth $242,00,000 each year and 44,76,000 pound of beewax worth over
$4,000,000.Australia produces 40,50,00,000 pounds of honey (earning 9,00,000only
from the surplus) and 500,0000 pounds of beewax. Even a small country like
Tanganyika in Africa produces honey and beewax worth 750,000 and 250,000
respectively. It is observed that if the bee space is less than 3/16’’, the bees seal it with
propolis, and if larger than 3/16’’, they build a piece of new comb. This discovery
made it possible to make artificial frame hives that could be moved from one place to
another, if necessary.

Why Beekeeping?

Apiculture and Agriculture -

1. Introduction:

Beekeeping is a very fascinating occupation. It can be practiced equally

by men, women, grown up children and even by physically handicapped and
old persons. The investment required is low, and the economic returns are
comparatively very high. Beekeeping does not bring any pressure on
agriculture land. It produces honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis from the flowers
which otherwise dry up in nature and go waste. Beekeeping is a decentralized
industry and does not displace persons from their villages. If conditions are
favourable, level of beekeeping can be increased to semi-commercial or
commercial level. Though the honeybees are best known for the honey they
produce, their economic role in nature is to pollinate hundreds and thousands
of flowering plants and assure seed or fruit set. Honeybees thus play very
important role in cross pollinating various agricultural and horticultural crops
and increase their yield per unit area and improve their quality. Agricultural
scientists in America and Europe have estimated that value of the increased
crop yields due to honeybee pollination is several times more than the value of
the honey and beeswax the honeybees produce.

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2. Honeybees and Forests:

Honeybees and forests have been associated with each other for several
million years. Honeybees are an integral part of forests and their ecology. A healthy
bee fauna is an indication of healthy forest and its natural balance. This is so because
bees and flowering plants have evolved together as one biological unit over past
million years. Hills and adjacent transitional belts and hills and surrounding
agricultural belts having mixture of forests and agriculture are of the unique biological
wealth that could be converted into economic wealth and can offer livelihood on a
substantial basis. These are the best areas for promotion of beekeeping industry.

Various development projects in the country, however, affected beekeeping industry

adversely due to deforestation, increasing land-use for agriculture, urbanization,
tourism development etc. All these factors reduce significantly the bee forage
potential.

It is necessary to check this deterioration trend of the industry if this important

income resource to the rural and tribal population depending upon forests for their
livelihood has to be maintained. This is all the more necessary in view of the
importance of honeybees as cross pollinators of various agricultural and horticultural
crops. Jamun, Soap nut, Shikekai, Amla, Harad, Karanj, Neem, Drumstick,
Eucalyptus are a few plant species to mention which have duel utility. The plant
species should be such selected that there is a staggered flowering and flora is
available to the bees almost round the year. This will support insect population,
resulting into vibrant, lively and dynamic nature of the forests.

3. Role of Honeybees in Agriculture and Horticulture:

Until mid-20th century, honeybees were equated with the production of honey and
beeswax. But since past 3-4 decades, utilizing honeybees to pollinate large number of
agricultural and horticultural crops to increase per acre yield has become a routine
practice in many developed countries. Many commercial beekeepers in America

64
prefer to provide honeybee colonies on rental basis for pollination service rather than
to take honey production. Beekeepers in California earn about $150 per bee colony
per month as a rental for providing bee colonies for pollination service. According to
Agricultural Scientists in U.S.A., value of increased crop yields due to honeybee
pollination is 10 to 15 times more than the value of honey and beeswax the honeybees
produce.

4. Crops Benefited by Bee Pollination:

Experiments on effect of bee pollination on various crops were conducted by

Central Bee Research and Training Institute and various Agricultural Universities
under All India Coordinated Project on Honeybee Research and Training (ICAR).
There is a good data available on this subject from abroad also. A cross section of the
cross fertile crops, self-sterile crops with different degree of self-sterility and even
self-fertile crops benefited by bee pollination is summarized below.

Oilseed: White mustard, Rape, Toria, Sarso, Lahi, Safflower, Sunflower, Linseed,
Niger, Gingelly, etc.

Orchard Crops: Apple varieties, pears, plums, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, Litchi,
citrus varieties, grapes, cucumbers, squashes, melons, Almond, peach, guava,
gooseberry.

Legume seeds: Alfalfa, berseem and other clovers, vetches, broad beans, dwarf
beans.

Vegetable seeds: radish, cabbage, turnip, carrot, onion, cauliflower, gourds.

5. Integration of Apiculture and Agriculture:

Horticulture: Nearly 70 percent of the cultivated crops all over the world are
cross-fertile and depend on insects like honeybees for pollination. Dwindling of

65
population of useful pollinating insects has become a global problem. This is due to
pollution of water, air and indiscriminate use of insecticides. Of all the pollinating
insects, honeybees are considered as the most efficient and reliable crop pollinators.
Honeybees and flowering plants are interdependent for their biology and life cycle.
Thus Apiculture and Agriculture are interdependent for mutual benefits and cannot
develop in isolation.

The enormous benefit that honeybees silently offer to Agricultural and Horticultural
crop productivity and to national economy goes unnoticed. The beekeeping industry
has rarely put itself forward as a Key Factor in agricultural production. We know role
of honeybees in pollinating large number of crops. But the public and what is more
painful is the planners are unaware of this cheap, but essential and eco-friendly input.
The input, which has quadruple benefits viz. 1) employment generation among rural
and tribal population, 2) providing supplementary income to marginal farmer, landless
labours etc. 3) Producing honey, beeswax from the nectar of the flowers which
otherwise dries up in nature and goes waste and finally the most important 4)
increasing crop productivity and crop production through bee-pollination. Ministry of
Agriculture is planning for the Second Green Revolution. It may not be an
exaggeration to say that second green revolution may not yield desired results without
honeybees. As honeybees and agricultural crops are interdependent for their life
cycle, Apiculture and Agriculture has to be integrated for mutual benefits.

6. Beekeeping A Multidisciplinary Subject:

In case of other domestic animals i.e. in dairy, poultry, piggery etc. the animals
are confined to shed and are fed with stored food as per their requirement. Contrary to
this, honeybees themselves go out in search of their food which is a live material that
is flowers. Thus beekeeping is very peculiar industry in the sense that there is an
interaction of two living materials i.e. honeybees at one side and the flowering plants
on the other side. Beekeeping industry therefore involves different biological sciences
like Bee-botany, entomology, bee- behaviour, bee- management, bee-pathology, bee-
genetics, bee-breeding and quality control and handling of bee-products. In addition

66
to this designing of beekeeping equipment (Apiculture engineering) and providing
graded training facilities in this non-traditional new industry is also essential. An
integrated approach and simultaneous attention to all these aspects of beekeeping is
required to be given for qualitative and quantitative development in the industry. An
over-view of the above aspect may be necessary to understand the industry in depth
and to formulate comprehensive perspective plan for the development of the
beekeeping industry.

3. HONEY BEE PRODUCTS

In India, honeybees are generally equated with honey production. Even

beeswax is considered as a by-product and much attention is not given for its
collection and processing, leave aside collection of other bee products namely,
bee collected pollen and propolis, royal jelly and bee venom.

In the present global market, quality and competitive prices alone will govern
the market and the future of the industry. A beekeeper will therefore have to
tap not only all the above bee products but also provide his colonies on rental
basis for pollination service and augment his income. Such strategy alone can
make the beekeeper self reliant and beekeeping a viable industry in the
competitive market.

It may however be remembered that all the bee products are used either as
food or in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. For this reason, hygienic
collection, handling, processing, storage etc. and maintaining National and
International purity standards are of prime importance. India is endowed with
presence of three species of the genera Apis, namely, A.dorsata, A.cerana, and
A.florea and stingless honeybees of Trigona /Mellipona sp. Successful
introduction of European honeybees Apis mellifera in India, has given a new
dimension to the beekeeping industry.

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 Though large quantities of honey and beeswax are collected in India and
methods of their collection, processing etc. have been fairly standardized,
methods of production of other bee products are yet to be standardized for
commercial use. Standardization of methods of collection and development of
market for these products and for their value added products will have to be
simultaneously looked into.

1. Honey :

In a single honeybee colony there are about ten thousand worker

honeybees. Being social bees, there is a highly evolved division of labour
among these bees. Few scout bees, survey the area within a radius of one Km.
and collect the information about the direction, distance and quality of food –
nectar and pollen, available. By performing some dances, this information is
passed on to other honeybees. The honeybees then take a straight flight and
land on the crop for collecting nectar and pollen. The honeybees continue to
visit this particular crop until its flowering withers away. This peculiar
behaviour or the floral fidelity of honeybees makes it possible to get honeys
from predominantly a single plant source and thus we get unifloral honeys
like, Jamun honey, Mustard honey, Litchi honey etc. When density of a single
plant source is sparse in a particular area, then honeybees switch over to
another plant species for gathering nectar. Under these circumstances we get
multi-floral honey.

Each floral honey has a peculiar colour, taste and flavour specific to the plant
source. Except for these sensory tests, unifloral and multifloral honeys have
the same gross chemical composition.

2. Bees Wax:

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 In the process of evolution, honeybees appeared on the earth millions of
years before man made his appearance on this planet. As honey is said to be the first
sweet substance known to man, beeswax is said to be the first natural plastic known to
man. The Egyptians in 4200 B.C. found numerous uses of beeswax. They used to
preserve mummies, to seal the coffins etc. Ship building industry was also a great
consumer of Beeswax. Beeswax was used for waterproofing the bottoms of the ships.
The most important property of beeswax is its stable composition. Thousand year old
beeswax cakes were recovered from the sunken ships. The composition and properties
of these wax cakes were unchanged over centuries.

Artificial wax chamber

03. Bee Collected Pollen :

Honeybees collect nectar, convert it into honey and store it as their

carbohydrate food. Similarly a single bee colony collects 25 to 40 Kg of pollen
grains every year as a source of proteins, vitamins, minerals, oils and fats etc.
Pollen grains contains all types of nutrients required for the growth young
once in a bee colony and hence considered by many as a ‘Complete food’.
Pollen tablet are prepared as “food supplement” by some Pharmaceutical
Firms

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 Bee collected pollen

3. Propolis :

Honeybees collect gummy material secreted by leaf or flower buds of

some plants such as poplars, conifers. This substance is known as propolis.
Propolis is collected by European honeybees and not by Indian honeybees.
Honeybees use this resinous material to fill up cracks, crevices, and holes in
the hive. The hive entrance is reduced using propolis to protect the colony
from intruders like wasps, lizards etc. Propolis has anti-bacterial and anti-
fungal properties and it also acts as a repellent for many bee enemies. Propolis
is used in some pharmaceutical preparations.

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 propolis

4. Royal Jelly :

Queen bee lays two types of eggs, unfertilized and fertilized. From
unfertilized eggs drones or male bees develop. From fertilized eggs, either
worker bee (sterile female) or queen bee develops. After hatching of the
fertilized egg, for the first three days uniform and same food is given to all the
larvae. After three days, larvae to be developed into worker bees are given
courser type of food and the larvae to be developed into queen bee are given
abundant quantity of special food. This food brings miraculous changes in the
body of the queen bee and her life.

The egg laying capacity and the extended life span is attributed to the special
food secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands of the young worker bees. This
food is more popularly known as “Royal jelly” or “Miracle food” Royal jelly
is used in many pharmaceutical preparations.

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 Royal jelly

5. Bee Venom :

Most of the people know honeybees for the honey they produce so also
they know that honeybees are armed with sting which they use for the defence
of the colony. Bee venom is now known to have some medicinal properties.
Methods have been standardized to collect bee-venom

6 Apitherapy :

From ancient times, man has exploited honeybees throughout the world,
first for their sweet honey and then for their protein rich brood and pollen. The
use of beeswax came later and followed by other bee products propolis, royal
jelly and venom.

In early 20th century, cane sugar was produced commercially. Technology of

commercial production of glucose was also developed. Since recently, fructose
rich syrup from corn, using enzymatic process, is being manufactured.

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 In order to keep pace with changing times, beekeepers and their
organizations started looking for other avenues to augment their income. As a
result, traditional old therapy of using other bee products was revived and
from 1960 onwards methods were developed for commercial collection of
pollen, propolis and venom and production of royal jelly from bee colonies.
Followed by these achievements, extensive research was done on all the six
bee products for their food and medicinal values and came into existence a
new branch of medicine ‘Apitherapy’ i.e. use of bee products for treating
various ailments.

MARKETING OF BEE PRODUCTS

The Beekeeping Directorate concentrated its efforts on extension, research and

training aspects alone. Marketing of honey was looked after by the
Beekeepers’ cooperatives themselves. The Beekeeping Directorate undertook
marketing activity as a departmental activity since 1971 following a glut in
honey market. It is estimated that wild honey contributes to nearly 70 per cent
of the total Indian honey production.

Honey Extractor

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 Honey Production in India

In India we have two indigenous species of honeybees producing large

quantities of honey. These are Apis dorsata or the wild honeybees and Apis
cerana the domesticable hive bee. In addition to these Indian honeybees,
European honeybees Apis mellifera have been introduced in India.

a) Apis dorsata Honey:

This honey is traditionally collected from the wild honey bee

colonies Apis dorsata, by smoking away the bees and squeezing out their
combs for honey. Because of the crude method of collection of honey, this
honey contains lot of foreign matter, is turbid in appearance and invariably
contains large percentage of moisture. About 2.5 to 3 crore kilograms of honey
as annually collected from these wild honeybee colonies.

b) Apis cerana Honey:

Colonies of this domesticable hive bee Apis cerana are
maintained in modern wooden hives and honey is extracted by scientific
methods without killing the honeybees or destroying their honey combs.
Honey extracted from these bee colonies is therefore clean, transparent and
free from extraneous material. About 80 to 90 lakh Kg of honey is annually
produced from these bees.

c) Apis mellifera Honey:

The Italian race of Apis mellifera honeybees was introduced in

Punjab about three decades back. These honeybees are now spreading in Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. There are now about 1 lakh European
honeybee colonies in northern states producing nearly 10 lakh Kg of honey annually.

74
The rate, at which these honeybees are spreading in the agricultural plains of north
India, shows the new trend of development of beekeeping in India.

Honey Market

All tropical honeys including Indian honeys contain high moisture content (20
to 25 %), low enzymatic value and high Hydroxy-methyl-furfurol (HMF)
content, compared to European honeys. Honeys with higher moisture content
are liable to ferment quickly.

(a) Internal market:

Compared to traditional wild honey, production of apiary honey is less and

price-wise it is more costly than wild honey. Apiary honey has therefore
market in big cities and in pharmaceutical industries, while wild honey finds
market in small cities, villages, Ayurvedic preparations etc.

(b) International market:

During 19th century hundreds of European honeybee colonies were migrated

to North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand etc. These
European honeybees are well established in these countries and are being
harnessed for production of honey, beeswax, royal jelly, pollen, propolis and
bee-venom. As against this, in India, we have 8 lakh bee colonies producing
about 8000 tons of apiary honey. FAO, WHO and European Common Market
have laid down purity specifications for honey based on the composition of
Apis mellifera honeys

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THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
BEEKEEPING IN INDIA ARE AS FOLLOWS
 Using the Correct Species for Beekeeping

 Availability of Genetically Superior Queens for Increased Honey Production

 Lack of Technical Knowledge for Efficient Management of Colonies for High

Honey Yields

 Lack of Infrastructure at the Grass Roots and National Level for Beekeeping

 Poor Quality Control for the Production of Honey

 Emphasis on Production of Honey Instead of other Bee Products

CONCLUSION

From many viewpoints viz. employment generation among rural youths and tribal
population, producing valuable products like, honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis,
venom and royal jelly and above all increasing the yields qualitatively and
quantitatively, of various agricultural and horticultural crops, beekeeping has to be
developed on priority basis. Apiculture and Agriculture are interdependent and cannot
develop in isolation. Integration between Apiculture and Agriculture is therefore
essential for mutual benefits and development.

Because of the peculiar nature of beekeeping industry, simultaneous attention is

required to be given to different disciplines of biological sciences. For implementing
extension, research, training and marketing programmes, KVIC, State K.V.I. Boards,
Beekeepers’ Cooperatives, Departments of Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture and
Agriculture Universities and NGOs should work in close co-ordination. Such
integrated approach alone will result into rapid development of this important agro-
and forest based industry. Different Committees may have to be formed, drawing
representatives from above mentioned Departments for planning, preparation of Road
Map, monitoring and reviewing etc.

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 UNIT-IV
SOCIAL ECONOMIC SURVEY GRAM PANCHAYAT
RAMPUR

➢
INTRODUCTION

➢
OBJECTIVES

➢
AREA OF STUDY

➢
PARAMETERS OF STUDY

➢
SURVEY REPORT OF KISHANPUR VILLAGE

➢
COMMON FACILITY IN THE VILLAGE

➢
SURVEY DETAILS

➢
CONCLUSION

77
 INTRODUCTION

Socio economic study is the study of economy and social condition of an area. In
many cases socio economist focuses on the social impact of some sort of economic
changes. It is necessary to conduct socio economic studies and surveys in rural areas
as because maximum population in India resides in rural areas and their only source
of income is agriculture and small scale industries. Surveys are conducted by socio
economist in order to asses/evaluate and learn about the social, cultural, economic and
political conditions of the study site. Survey’s make use of questionnaire’s makes the
data collection and analysis easy for survey’s after analysis and identifying the main
area of concern, a set of guidelines are developed for establishing viable communities.

Objective:

1. To conduct socioeconomic surveys, asses the prevailing socio-

economic conditions and to identify the main area of concern.

2. To analyse the impact of prevailing socio-economic conditions on the

socio-economic structures of study lines.

3. To bring about socio-economic development, usually in terms of

improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy levels
of employment.

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Area of study:

The present study was conducted at Rampur Village, Dehradun- 248140

(Uttarakhand).

A total of 5 households were interviewed. Detailed survey was conducted to

generate basic information on various aspects.

Parameters of study:

a) Social condition and social system

1. Age wise population distribution.

2. Literacy and educational status.

3. Family system.

4. Marriage system.

b) Economic condition

1. Land holding.

2. Mode of cultivation.

3. State of mechanisation.

4. Status of source of irrigation.

5. Source of income and average income per month.

Survey report of kishanpur village:


Name of investigator : SWADHIN DUTTA

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
Name of the village: Rampur


Block:Doiwala


District:Dehradun


Distance from:


Block Headquarters:Dehradun(17Km)


Nearest Market:clement town (3.6km)


Nearest railway station:Harrawala railway station
(8.6km)


Nearest bus station:Clement town bus station.(3.6km)

S.No FACILITY AVAILABILITY (Yes/ REMARKS

No)
A Primary health Yes General
clinic
B V e t e r i n a r y Yes Monthly twice
Hospital
C Water Supply Yes General
D Seed Store No Required

E School Primary, High school General+ Mid

and Standard Day Meal
F Tube well For Yes General
Irrigation
G Post office Yes Available With
Low Facilities

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 H Panchayat Bhawan Yes General With
Good Facilities
I Others College U.P.E.S.


Common facility in the village:
➢
Road facilities

➢
Water facility

➢
Electricity

➢
Gram panchayath

➢
Transport facility
➢

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 PHOTOGRAPHS OF SURVEY

CONCLUSION

From the survey and analysis of the

information collected from the
village, it is clear that the economic
& living condition of the people of
Kishanpur is average, but the attitude
of the people towards the society is
appreciable. Commissions and kickbacks are ruining the productivity. Educational
and productive steps should be introduced for overall development and wellbeing of
the farmers. There can be much more economic development of the village if the
village gets aids from government in utilizing advance technologies in agriculture,
and animal husbandry. We would say that this report is a looking glass, which reflects
the face of that village.

In conclusion we can say that a part of field study “Socio-Economic Survey” is a part
and partial of education system. It is also a very essential and important part of
education, because it helps us to know and realize the Socio-economic condition of
particular society, the living standard of its people and their views towards education.
So the “Socio-Economic Survey” lays a pivot role in our educational system.

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How to sustain Agriculture/Farming System:
❖ Some Suggestions:

➢
Proper educational seminars should be put by the government in order to
educate the farmer.

➢
Diseases in crops and livestock should be completely eradicated with better
and modern facilities.

➢
Cost of farm implements should be at a price where farmers can afford
easily.

➢
Bank loans to the farmers.

➢
Subsidies on varied Agricultural inputs like seed, fertilizers, etc.

83