Selection of bees to royal jelly prep, 5-day training covers all aspects of queen bee rearing

Ludhiana: Eighteen beekeepers and 10 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel took part in an advanced training course on mass queen bee rearing and production of hive products recently.
From the right selection of bees, royal jelly preparation, scientific management of bee colonies to management of diseases, and storage as well as marketing of honey-based products, technical coordinator Jaspal Singh covered all aspects of bee rearing during the five-day course.
The training was conducted by the Skill Development Centre in association with Punjab Agricultural University's entomology department.
Rupinder Kaur, associate director (skill development), said the course has been designed for the promotion and expansion of beekeeping as a profitable agri-business.
Beekeeping experts from PAU — Bharti Mahendru, Amit Chaudhary, Ramandeep Singh, Khushdeep Dharni, Sonika Sharma, Jaspreet Kaur, MS Alam, Manmeet Manav, and assistant director of horticulture, Ludhiana, Vijay Pratap, focused on the key role of queen bees, right selection of bees for increased stock, marketing of honey products, certification of honey-made food items, nutritional benefits of honey, vermicompost preparation, packaging of honey, testing of honey and AGMARK certification, as well as welfare schemes available for beekeepers, respectively.