CSUbeekeepingresearch

Research and extension efforts at Central State University are buzzing through the apiculture (beekeeping) program coordinated by CSU Research Assistant Professor Hongmei Li-Byarlay, Ph.D.

Apiculture, the maintenance of honeybees and hives, provides farmers and hobbyists with a variety of enterprises including production of beeswax, honey and other edible bee products; crop pollination services and sale of bees to other beekeepers.

Central State’s research focuses on testing innovative hypotheses in the fields of sustainable apiculture, genomics, genetics, behavior, and stress physiology of honeybees and pollinators. “Honeybees are the most important managed pollinators for our food and cropproduction,” saidDr. Li-Byarlay. “We aim to improve honeybee health by selecting the stocks with mite-resistant traits specifically, focusing on the evolutionary genetics and epigenetics, the brain, and the social behaviors of honeybees.”

The growing academic program maintains a bee yard at the CSU research farms as well as working with local beekeepers and researchers throughout the nation. The program will be featured on an upcoming In Ohio Country television program that airs throughout the Midwest. For more information about the Central State University Extension apiculture program, contact Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay at hli-byarlay@centralstate.edu.