Nutritional Composition of Honey Bee Drones of Two Subspecies Relative to Their Pupal Developmental Stages

Abstract

We examined the contents of nutritional importance, i.e., amino acids, fatty acids and minerals of different developmental stages of drones of two honey bee subspecies, namely Apis mellifera carnica and A. m. mellifera. The results revealed that, in general, individual amino acid amounts and therefore the total protein increased along with the developmental stages of the drones. No statistically significant differences were found between the same developmental stages of the two subspecies. The reverse, i.e., a decrease with developmental stage occurred in relation to the fatty acid composition. Most of the minerals were higher at advanced developmental stages. Overall, the high protein content (31.4–43.4%), small amount of fat (9.5–11.5%) and abundance of minerals such asiron and zinc, make drones a suitable nutritional resource. Even though nutrient content, especially protein, was higher in the pupae than the prepupae, we propose prepupae also as a commercial product based on their higher biomass production. Provided standard production protocols maintaining hygiene and safety will be adhered to, we propose that drone honey bees can be utilized as human food or animal feed.

Honey bees and their brood: a potentially valuable resource of food, worthy of greater appreciation and scientific attention

“…Altogether 17 amino acids were determined, but tryptophan was not recovered and sulfur-containing amino acids, e.g., cysteine and methionine, were not entirely assessable presumably because of acid hydrolysis processes. However, the amino acid distribution patterns follow similar trends (Ozimek et al 1985;Hu and Li 2001;Finke 2005;Kim et al 2018;Ghosh et al 2016Ghosh et al , 2020aGhosh et al , 2020bGhosh et al , 2020cGhosh et al, 2021b) and leucine was consistently the most abundant among the essential amino acids, while glutamic and aspartic acid were predominating overall. Of the total protein content of the pupae of different honey bee species, essential amino acid amounts ranged between 40.3 and 45.9% and non-essential amino acids ranged from 54.1 to 59.7% (calculated from Table 1).…”

“…In most of these earlier chemical composition and nutrient studies, it had been A. mellifera that had received the largest attention. We have now carried out a series of investigations on the nutrient composition of different honey bee species and subspecies at different developmental stages (Ghosh et al 2016(Ghosh et al , 2020a(Ghosh et al , 2020b(Ghosh et al , 2020cGhosh et al, 2021b) and are presenting the data in this paper.…”

“…In contrast, RDA for zinc is higher for males than females, and therefore, 40 to 54.5% of the RDA would be available to male subjects by consuming 100 g of drones while 55 to 75% of the RDA would fulfill the requirement for females. In total, 30.9 to 53.9% of the RDA can be attained with regard to potassium (Ghosh et al, 2021b). However, worrying increases of lead (Pb) and cadmium levels in honey bees of heavily industrialized areas have been noticed (Abhik Gupta, personal communication) and this is one aspect to be carefully monitored when recommending bees and bee brood as a food item for humans.…”

“…Abbreviations: AMM Apis mellifera mellifera, AMC Apis mellifera carnica, AML Apis mellifera ligustica, AMB Apis mellifera buckfast, PP prepupa, EP early pupa, LP late pupa, A adult a Essential amino acid; SAA sulfur-containing amino acids, AAA aromatic amino acids Data obtained for AML and AMB: Ghosh et al 2020c; AMM and AMC:Ghosh et al 2021b …”

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Broods: Composition, Technology and Gastronomic Applicability

“…A review from Ghosh et al [ 38 ] compiled some data for the chemical composition and functional properties at different developmental stages of honey bee workers belonging to different species and drone broods belonging to different subspecies. Table 4 presents the amino acid profiles of drone pupae over different stages (from prepupal to late pupal) whose ranges of values are gathered from results reported by the same authors in previous studies [ 39 , 40 ]. The most abundant essential amino acids are leucine, lysine, and aromatic amino acids.…”