Bacterial diversity in honey bee environment: Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, small-scale farmers are increasingly venturing into honeybee keeping supplementing their income. However, cases of honeybee populations decline characterized by colony losses, hive absconding and migrating swarms have been documented, resulting in a decline in the number of colonized hives thus raising concerns about their sustainability. Honeybee and colony fitness is dependent on bacterial symbioses, and their disruption leads to disease susceptibility. To assess bacteria associated with honeybees in Kenya, we collected honeycombs, honey, adult worker bees and frame scraping samples from different agro-ecological zones within Embu County. To determine the bacterial composition we characterized the hive microbiota using the targeted metagenomic culture-independent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Honeybee-associated bacteria community in the hive materials was dominated by Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Fructobacillus, Bacillus, Gilliamella, Frischella, Enterobacter, Bombella and Serratia across the sampling environment. In the sample types, adult worker bees lacked the Lactococcus genus but had the other phylotypes consistently similar to those in the larvae samples. Genus Saccharibacter however was absent in honeycomb and larvae samples. Genus Lactococcus was present in all the sample types except in the adult worker bee samples. The significant observation was the presence of genera Serratia and Enterobacter, opportunistic environmental bacteria. High levels of these bacteria in adult and larva samples may present a potential disruption of the microbial community and increase disease susceptibility. Honey production declines as a result of the weakened colony. Regular monitoring will be ideal in maintaining the colony health and thus respond to the growing global market and achieving the African union's Agenda 2063 on agricultural productivity and production.