Scientific management of honey bee colonies and bee diseases were key focus

Recently, the Skill Development Centre, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), conducted a five-day online advanced training course on ’Mass Queen Bee Rearing and Production of Hive Products’ with the participation of 40 farmers.

Dr TS Riar, Associate Director (Skill Development), said that the University experts delved upon beekeeping extension and development. Dr Pardeep K Chhuneja, Head, Department of Entomology, explained the scientific management of honey bee colonies, and identification and management of bee diseases.

Dr Jaspal Singh, Technical Coordinator of the course, shed light on techniques required for selecting honey bee stocks for various aspects of bee breeding.Entomology experts, Dr Bharti Mohindru, Dr Amit Choudhary and Dr Yuvraj Singh Pandha dwelt on the importance of mass/commercial queen bee rearing, selection of honey bee colonies for stock improvement, preparing breeder and cell builder colonies, production, processing and storage of pollen, propolis and bees wax, etc.