Evaluation of Ten Supplemental Diets to Enhance Some Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Activities during Winter Season in Egypt.

Abstract

This work was carried out at the apiary of Bee Research Department, Quanter branch, Qaluobia governorate during the period from December 2016 to April 2017 to evaluate the effect of feeding honeybee colonies with ten diets as pollen substitutes on diets consumption rates, brood rearing, pollen and honey storage activities. Six Proteinaceous materials were used as follows; defatted soybean flour, chickpea flour, maize flour, pea flour, wheat germ and dried brewer's yeast, were mixed with sugar powder, bee honey and water in different proportions forming ten diets taking letters from A to J. The obtained results revealed that colonies were fed on Diet H (chickpea flour + wheat germ + dried brewer's yeast) produced the highest average of biological activities, which were 105.54 g, 363.75 inch², 134.83 inch² and 404.08 inch²/colony for diet consumption, sealed workers brood area, stored pollen area and stored honey area, respectively. On the contrary, the colonies fed on Diet C (pea flour + defatted soybean flour + dried brewer's yeast) produced the lowest average of biological activities, which were 77.0 g., 235.1 inch², 75.43 inch² and 258.39 inch²/colony for diet consumption, sealed workers brood area, stored pollen area and stored honey area, respectively. There were a direct relationship between diets consumption and each of brood rearing, pollen and honey storage activities during winter season compared with control colonies, which showed a noticeable decrease in all of these biological activities.

Physiological Effects of Some Pollen Substitutes Diets on Caged Honey Bee Workers (Apis mellifera L.)

“…5, 8.3, 7.8, 6.3 and 4.2 mg./bee/3days for bees fed on bee bread, diets 2, 1, 3, 4, respectively. Our results not compatible with Younis (2019), in spite of, he used diet formula based on chickpea flour, wheat germ, dried brewer's yeast as a rich protein source for honey bee colonies. This may be due to the different in application method which reflects the highly consumption rate of the diet in field in comparison to laboratory.…”

“…So, providing colonies with protein source all over the year, especially during dearth periods of pollen is a critical matter. Recently, several studies have given more attention to formulate supplementary diets or substitutes to compensate the lack of the natural protein source (pollen) (Zheng et al, 2014;Amro et al, 2016;Negri et al, 2017;Gamal Eldin et al, 2018;Gregorc et al, 2019;Younis, 2019). Moreover, different pollen types from different plant origin differently effects on the physiological conditions of worker honey bee (Amro et al, 2015).…”

“…Also, they should be able to stimulate colony growth and support aspects of worker quality especially brood rearing activity and worker longevity (Manning et al, 2007). There are several materials that can be used during the preparation of pollen substitutes including: soybean meal (Abbasian and Ebadi, 2002), yeast (Abd El-Wahab and Gomaa, 2005), skimmed milk (Amro et al, 2016), wheat gluten (Nutter et al, 2017) and chickpea flour (Younis, 2019). Such materials have high content of protein, which encourages the development of hypopharyngeal glands (HPG), hence stimulating the secretion of royal jelly and promoting brood rearing activity.…”

Vital responses of caged honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers fed on new substitute diets in the laboratory

“…Aly et al (2019) have shown promising consumption rates of soybeans and wheat germ components when provided to honey bee colonies either separated or combined. Consumption rates findings confirm positive conclusions of earlier studies on palatability and impacts of soybeans, wheat germ, chickpeas and corn components in different forms (Sammataro and Milagra, 2013;Aly et al, 2019;Younis, 2019). The initial rise in consumption rates compared to the last recorded ones for both diets can be attributed to the progressive mortality in caged individuals.…”

Physiological Impacts of Some Food Additives on Honeybee Workers (Apis mellifera L.)

“…3e, and f). These results indicate that, the rate of change of brood area in colonies supplied with protein diets was higher than that in the control group, which agrees with the findings of (Younis 2019;Tawfik et al, 2020;Ullah et al, 2021and Israr et al, 2022 who concluded that the brood area of workers in colonies supplemented with artificial protein diet was higher than that control group.…”