Stimulative Feeding Of Honey Bees Combined With Protein Supplement And Pollen Sbstitute And Their Effect On Development And Resistance Of Honey Bee Colonies And Honey Production

Honey bees require several nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids. vitamins and minerals for their growth and survival. Normally they receive the carbohydrate from the nectars and the other nutrients througth the use of pollen. Honey bees are using the sugar syrup in order to secure the required carbohydrates at the time where there is scarcity of natural sources. Honey bee can not survive very long by utilizing the syrup only, due to lack of protein and certain other nutrient, there will be some abnormalities in the growth of poision, wax and hypopharyngeal glands, and also, the brooding, life span and ultimately the population of the colonies will be reduced sharply, causing adverse effect to the colonies. In order to find the most suitable substitute for the pollen to prevent the weakening of the colonies, an expriment was conducted where seven dietary rations of pollen substitute with soyabeen meal, pollen supplement with soyabeen meal, pollen substitute with corn gluten, pollen supplement with corngluten, pollen substitute with sesame meal, and pollen supplement with sesame meal where allotted to sixthy colonies along with ten colonies of control group. In order to evaluate the effect of these experimental diets, various parmeters like population size, brooding and growth of colonies, palatability of rations. winter food intake, stability and divisbility of colonies, total nitrogen content of bee head and thorax (mg/bee), average dry weight (mg/bee). dry matter and moisture content of the head and thorax (%) of the forager, newborn and nurse bees were measured. The results indicated hat all the expermental rations have increased the population size and brooding, when compared with that of control group, but because of theunpalatability, undigestibility and the inhibitory or harmful components these experimental rations can not be recommemded for stimulatory nutrition of the honey bees. They caused high mortality of the colonies in winter and decrease number of colonies. The only expermental ration which can be consider as the most suitable diets was the pollen substitute with soyabean meal, where resulted increasing the population size and broodning of the colonies. 1.5 fold compared with control group. The palatability of this diet was suitable. The colonies 'used this treatment were consumed the least winter food as compared with control and other expermintal groups. There was no mortality in this group. The total stability of colony treated was 2.3 times more than that of control group.