Effect of Feeding some Diets as A pollen Grains Supplements during Spring Season on Some Activities of Honey Bee Colonies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Plant Protection Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, Ain shams university

2 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

Abstract

This work was conducted in the apiary of Plant Protection Research Institute at El-Quanater, Qaluobia Governorate to study the effect of some diets on activities of honeybee colonies during spring season of 2016. It was compared to seven treatments on Carniolan hybrid bee colonies treatment (A) was (Brewer,s yeast – chick pea cake fortified with 4.2% pollen as a protein supplement plus sugar syrup (1:1 ), treatment (B) was sugar syrup (1:1) added with pollen grains, treatment (C) was (Brewer,s yeast – chick pea cake fortified with 4.2% pollen as a protein supplement plus sugar syrup (2:1), treatment (D) was sugar syrup (1:1) added with vitamin (Royal star), treatment (E) was El-Quanater fresh pollen cake plus sugar syrup (1:1), treatment (F) was (Brewer,s yeast – chick pea cake fortified with 4.2% pollen as a protein supplement plus sugar syrup (1:1) added with 1% Camphor oil (10ml / litter) and treatment (G) was pollen substitute cake consists of (sugar + protein + attractive material+vitamins) plus sugar syrup (2:1), by counting the daily worker brood rearing rate, the stored honey weight, the stored pollen weight and the longevity of newly emerged bee workers. Results revealed that the best diet was treatment (C). It came the first in order and produced a higher brood rearing rate was 968.84 worker brood/ day with increase percentages of 127.28% when compared to the corresponding average in the colonies before feeding. The average weight of stored honey was 3502.92 grams/ colony with increase percentages of 433.78% when compared to that before feeding. No significant differences were observed among the diets in the weight of stored pollen but treatment (C) produced a higher weight of stored pollen was 249.03 grams/ colony with increase percentages of 315.54% when compared to that before feeding and the average longevity of caged newly emerged worker was 26.17 days.

Keywords