Taxonomic study on selected species of stingless bee (hymenoptera: apidae: meliponini) in Peninsular Malaysia

A total of 19 species of stingless bee (Apidae: Meliponini) from eight genera were examined and revised, based on 145 specimens from the collection of Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Malaysian Genome Institute (MGI) and a sampling done in several stingless bee farms in Peninsular Malaysia. This study aims to revise a taxonomic character and provide a redescription of stingless bee based on morphological characters and morphometric measurements of 24 parameters, in order to prepare a dichotomous key to the genus and species in Peninsular Malaysia. The genera and species identification of stingless bee were based on morphological characters and coloration such as the structure and color of antenna, head, thorax, wing, leg and abdomen. Finding of the research shows that, Geniotrigona appeared as the largest genus in term of size and thus supported by the previous report. It was represented by two species namely Geniotrigona thoracica and Homotrigona fimbriata with mean body length 8.44 and 8.24 mm, respectively. Tetragonula fuscobalteata appeared as the smallest species of stingless bee with an average of body length 3.26mm. Lepidotrigona can be differentiated from other genera of stingless bees by having a yellowish scale-like structure on a mesoscutum while Tetragonula can be categorized by having a hairband on a mesoscutum. This hairband character is peculiar for Tetragonula while their species differentiation can be made whether it is obviously seen or not. Tetragonula was recorded as the most abundant genus with highest species richness accordingly to the previous literature, and represented here by eight described species. Each recorded species of stingless bee were successfully distinguished by distinct morphological characters and coloration possess by the species itself. Thus, it is hope that this study would be very useful as a guideline and reference for further studies of stingless bee in future

Drying of stingless bees pot-pollen using swirling fluidized bed dryer

High moisture content in stingless bees pot-pollen makes preservation difficult. Since potpollen is heat sensitive, using conventional drying techniques below 40-C is time consuming. A fluidized bed dryer (FBD) with swirling distributor is proposed for rapid drying of the pot-pollen while conserving the nutrients. The objectives of this study are to investigate the possibility of using swirling FBD to dry pot-pollen, and to investigate the effect of distributor type and superficial air velocity on pot-pollen drying. Stingless bees pot-pollen from the state of Pahang, Malaysia was dried at different conditions. Three distributor types: perforated, 45- inclination angle, and 67- inclination angle were tested at three superficial air velocities of 1.0 m/s, 1.5 m/s, and 2.0 m/s. Then, moisture content before and after drying were studied. To ensure swirling FBD would preserve the nutrition content of pot-pollen, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis on the pot-pollen before and after drying was also carried out. It was found that at higher velocity, the drying rate increased. The 67- swirling distributor has the best drying performance, followed by the 45- swirling and perforated distributor. The highest reduction in moisture content, 13.5% in this study was found when using 67- distributor at 2.0 m/s. This translates to a drying rate of 0.450%/min, about 6.2 times faster than conventional FBD, 5.6 times faster drying rate compared to hot air dryer (HAD) at 45 -C, 44.5 times higher than oven drying at 30 -C, and also a staggering 225 times quicker than cyclic convective dryer (CCD). It is also comparable to lower power levels of microwave assisted vacuum dryer (MW-VD), without damaging pot-pollen nutrients. The NMR analysis showed no adverse effect due to drying. Hence, it is possible to dry pot-pollen rapidly using swirling FBD without damaging its nutrition content, and using the 67- swirling distributor is preferred

Experimental analysis on a novel low-temperature vacuum drying with induced nucleation technique for dewatering stingless bees honey

Honey spoilage is a major problem in storing stingless bee honey. A new method of honey dewatering was developed using a low-temperature vacuum drying with induced nucleation technique. The research’s objective is to investigate the performance of this method in reducing honey’s water content. Two different dewatering temperatures were applied until honey’s water content reached below 20%. The honey’s chemical compound before–after dewatering from one of the samples was tested using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The dewatering rate improves significantly with higher temperature. The NMR analysis result found no changes in chemical compound before–after experiment except for ethanol