Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2012 Aug;105(4):1134-8. doi: 10.1603/ec11437.
Honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), nutrition is vital for colony growth and maintenance of a robust immune system. Brood rearing in honey bee colonies is highly dependent on protein availability. Beekeepers in general provide protein supplement to colonies during periods of pollen dearth. Honey bee brood pheromone is a blend of methyl and ethyl fatty acid esters extractable from cuticle of honey bee larvae that communicates the presence of larvae in a colony. Honey bee brood pheromone has been shown to increase protein supplement consumption and growth of honey bee colonies in a subtropical winter climate. Here, we tested the hypothesis that synthetic brood pheromone (SuperBoost) has the potential to increase protein supplement consumption during fall in a temperate climate and thus increase colony growth. The experiments were conducted in two locations in Oregon during September and October 2009. In both the experiments, colonies receiving brood pheromone treatment consumed significantly higher protein supplement and had greater brood area and adult bees than controls. Results from this study suggest that synthetic brood pheromone may be used to stimulate honey bee colony growth by stimulating protein supplement consumption during fall in a northern temperate climate, when majority of the beekeepers feed protein supplement to their colonies.
蜜蜂蜜蜂，Apis mellifera L.（膜翅目：蜜蜂科），营养对于蜂群的生长和维持强大的免疫系统至关重要。在蜜蜂群体中，幼虫的饲养高度依赖于蛋白质的供应。养蜂人通常在花粉缺乏时期向蜂群提供蛋白质补充剂。蜜蜂幼虫信息素是从蜜蜂幼虫表皮中提取的甲基和乙基脂肪酸酯的混合物，用于在蜂群中传达幼虫的存在。已经表明，蜜蜂幼虫信息素可以增加蛋白质补充剂的消耗和亚热带冬季气候下蜜蜂群体的生长。在这里，我们测试了一个假设，即合成的幼虫信息素（SuperBoost）有可能在温带气候的秋季增加蛋白质补充剂的消耗，从而增加群体的增长。实验于 2009 年 9 月和 10 月在俄勒冈州的两个地点进行。在这两个实验中，接受幼虫信息素处理的蜂群消耗的蛋白质补充剂明显更多，并且与对照组相比，幼虫区和成年蜜蜂的数量更多。本研究的结果表明，合成的幼虫信息素可能通过在北温带气候的秋季刺激蛋白质补充剂的消耗来刺激蜜蜂群体的生长，因为大多数养蜂人在秋季向蜂群提供蛋白质补充剂。
