Colony Performance Index and management of absconding in Apis cerana

Indian honey bee, Apis cerana is the base of Indian bee keeping and is distributed throughout India. It has many valuable characters of biological and economic importance. These include their docile and industrious nature, less prone to attack of parasite, mite and nosema diseases. However, absconding is a common problem in this species. Absconding is generally either disturbance induced or resource induced. Colony Performance Index (CPI) is used to measure the overall ability of the colony to stay at the nesting site. The CPI monitoring gives an alarm to beekeepers about the absconding of colonies, so that preventive measures can be taken to avoid the same. However, less work has been done in India with respect to absconding behavior and its management of Apis cerana. Hence the present investigations were undertaken to understand the absconding behavior of Apis cerana indica in sub tropical climate and its management.