Abstract

In Kenya, small-scale farmers are increasingly turning to honeybee keeping to supplement their income. The decline of the honeybee population in Kenya has raised concerns following the important economic and ecological role played by the honeybees. By assessing microbial diversity associated with honeybees in Embu County, Kenya, we sought to determine the colony microbial composition of bees using culture-independent sequencing. Honeybee-associated microbial community in the hive materials was dominated by Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Fructobacillus, Bacillus, Gilliamella, Frischella, Enterobacter, Bombella and Serratia across the sampling environment. Across the sample types adult worker bees lacked the Lactococcus genus but had the other phylotypes consistently similar to those in the larvae samples. We report a potential disruption of the microbial bacteria community signified by the presence of genera Serratia and Enterobacter, which are opportunistic environmental microorganisms.