Foreword

Honey bees play an important role in the sustainability of our agro-ecosystem. Bees not only provide pollination services but also provide hive products and thereby act as a crucial source of income for the masses. A thorough understanding of the biology of honey bee queens, workers and drones and the factors affecting their quality and performance helps in improving the productivity of honey bee colonies. A fertile quality queen bee is essential for the long-term survival and growth of a honey bee colony. Further, the productivity of the honey bee colony is also highly dependent on the quality of the queen bee. Therefore, the rearing of queen bees from the most productive honey bee colonies having the desired traits leads to the path to stock improvement. Drones in the honey bee colonies contribute by fertilizing the queen bees and thereby enabling them to lay fertilized eggs resulting in a huge population of worker bees. Therefore, the rearing of a large number of good quality drones from the selected best-performing honey bee colonies is equally important in the bee breeding program. However, for rearing good-quality drone bees, addressing the nutritional requirements of drones is also very important. Understanding the drone maturity, synchronization of drone maturity and queen maturity, mating flight, drone congregation area, and weather conditions suitable for queen bee mating success help us in better planning and execution of bee breeding. This book provides very good information on drone development, pheromonal communication, and the reproductive system of drones. The chapter on the mating and reproduction in Apis mellifera provides detailed information regarding drone congregation area and reproductive potential of drones and the factors which affect these parameters. This book also throws light on the significant role drones play in stock quality improvement. This book will provide useful information to the students and researchers. My best wishes to the author.