Monitoring on impact of insecticides on mortality of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in front of beehives
The present study investigated effect of pesticide usage and public awareness on honey bee mortality. The experiments were conducted at three different sites at Maharashtra, India with domesticated bee hives of Apis mellifera L. The maximum bee mortality during 51st week of 2012-13 (1559.10 bees/hive/week) clearly indicated towards the direct and indirect effect of insecticides in general at study site I (Case I). Similar experiments were repeated at other two different sites during 2013-14. Farmers (Case II and III) were aware of beekeeping and ill effects of pesticides. Farmers followed some precautionary measures to combat with the bad effect of insecticides on bees. As a result there was less mortality of bees. The experiments revealed that farmers should be aware of bee conservation and precautionary measures to combat with the bad effect of insecticides on bees.