Effect of Different Seasons on the Royal Jelly Production Under Nasr City Conditions – Cairo - Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The study was executed at apiary of Plant protection Dept. Fac. of Agric. Al-Azhar Univ., Cairo, Egypt, during two successive years 2019 and 2020 to determine the effectiveness of different seasons on the acceptance rates of the larvae and royal jelly production. In the first year, the highest acceptance means for Italian hybrid 72.1 and 65.43% for Carniolan hybrid were recorded at mid-spring on the other hand, the lowest acceptance percentages means were 50.86 and 55.8 % recorded at early summer for Carniolan and Italian hybrids respectively. Also, results demonstrated that mid spring gave the best mean weight of royal jelly per queen cell cup 238.35 mg. for Italian hybrid and 236.31 mg. for the Carniolan hybrid. The lowest quantity means were recorded in early summer 187.24 mg./cup for Carniolan hybrid and 198.74 mg./cup for Italian hybrid. In the second year, the highest acceptance means were 66.42 and 62.96% at mid spring for Italian and Carniolan hybrids respectively. Whereas the lowest acceptance percentage means were 44.44 and 48.4 % at early summer for Carniolan and Italian hybrids. Also, results cleared that mid-spring gave the best mean weight of royal jelly per queen cell cup, 229.71 mg. for Italian hybrid and 227.5 mg. for Carniolan hybrid. The lowest quantity means were recorded at early summer 186.72 mg./cup for Carniolan hybrid and 189.06 mg./cup for Italian hybrid. As for the effect of the bar level, the middle bar level gave the best results for royal jelly quantity and cup acceptance while the upper level gave the least royal jelly quantity and acceptance percentages in different seasons. There was a significant difference in acceptance percent and the royal jelly production per cup cell between mid-spring and early summer. Mid-spring gave the best results while the early summer gave the least results.

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