SIWA OASIS AS A NEW ISOLATED REGION FOR PRESERVING AND PROPAGATING THE EGYPTIAN HONEYBEE RACE, Apis mellifera lamarckii COCKERELL

Abstract

Different activities of Apis mellifera lamarckii were studied under Siwa Oasis climatic conditions. Results obtained indicated main peak of worker brood activity this main peak was recorded at the onset of May (140 inch 2 /colony) in 1 st. year .while in the 2 nd. year the main peak was recorded at the onset of April (135.9 inch 2 /colony). The brood drone has main peak (15.66 and 21.1 inch 2 /colony) in March over the two years of study. The mean pollen stored areas measured was 18.3 inch 2 /colony in Jun of 1 st. year and 12.3 inch 2 /colony in November of the 2 nd. ones . Maximum numbers of queen cells were recorded during February. and March (34.5 & 38.5 cells/col., respectively) in the 1 st. year and they were (29 & 27.85 cells/col, respectively) in 2 nd. ones. The maximum area measured of stored honey was (119.8 inch 2 /colony) during June in the 1 st. year and in the 2 nd. ones it was (129 inch 2 /colony) during July. a significant positive correlations was found between stored pollen and the rate of rearing worker brood during the two years of study, (0.188 & 0.553). A positive correlation between air temperature and the amount of stored pollen were, also, found during the two years, (0.414 & 0.013). The obtained results revealed that the Siwa Oasis was profitable for rearing and propagating Apis mellifera lamarckii.