Livestock Research for Rural Development 28(5) 2016 Guide for preparation of papers LRRD Newsletter Citation of this paper Beekeepers' honeybee colony selection practice in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia Mohammed Tilahun, Zenebe Abraha 1 , Addisu Gebre 2 and Patricia Drumond 3 Department of Animal, Rangeland and Wildlife Sciences, Mekelle University. P.O.Box 231, Ethiopia mohammedtilahun@yahoo.com 1 Department of Natural Resource Economic Management, Mekelle University, Ethiopia 2 Department of Dryland Crop and Horticultural Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia 3 Embrapa Acre, Brazil Abstract Selection of colonies plays an important role for successful harvesting of desired products from honeybees. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess local knowledge and experience of beekeepers in Tigray regional state of Ethiopia with regard to colony selection and management practices during purchase and multiplication. Respondent selection was carried out based on the existing conventional agroecological zones namely Dega (highland), Kolla (lowland) and Weinadega (midland). Four woredas (districts) from Dega zone, and three from each of Kolla and Weinadega zones were sampled. A total of 185 beekeepers were interviewed to understand the criteria they were using to select colonies. Preference ranking data were indexed using linear programming. The result indicated that beekeepers were using six local selection criteria namely worker bee population, body color, comb building direction, aggressiveness, honey yield history and age of the colony ordered according to their preference rank from 1 to 6. Beekeepers understood that selection of honeybee colonies was important because productivity, management easiness and agroclimatic adaptation of colonies are different for different colonies. As a result colonies with dominant black colored bees were chosen as first priority for their merits of better honey productivity, tolerance to absconding and multiplication easiness in Weinadega and Kolla agroecologies. However, red/yellowish colored bees were preferred in Dega agroecology. Key words : Agroecology, Apis mellifera, color, linear programming , productivity Introduction Tigray region is one of the potential and well known honey producing regions in Ethiopia. It is known for its good quality white honey. Farmers in the region have long experience of traditional beekeeping. The efforts made to improve this sub-sector from traditional practice to improved technologies is being challenged by shortage of beekeeping input materials, drought, lack of