Lan Jun, Ding Guiling, Ma Weihua, Jiang Yusuo, Huang Jiaxing
College of Animal Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China.
Key Laboratory for Insect-Pollinator Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Insects. 2021 Feb 2;12(2):130. doi: 10.3390/insects12020130.
With the availability of various plants in bloom simultaneously, honey bees prefer to collect some pollen types over others. To better understand pollen's role as a reward for workers, we compared the digestibility and nutritional value of two pollen diets, namely, pear ( Rehd.) and apricot ( L.). We investigated the visits, pollen consumption, and pollen extraction efficiency of caged workers. Newly emerged workers were reared, and the effects of two pollen diets on their physiological status (the development of hypopharyngeal glands and ovaries) were compared. The choice-test experiments indicated a significant preference of workers for apricot pollen diets over pear pollen diets (number of bees landing, 29.5 ± 8.11 and 9.25 ± 5.10, < 0.001 and pollen consumption, 0.052 ± 0.026 g/day and 0.033 ± 0.013 g/day, < 0.05). Both pollen diets had comparable extraction efficiencies (67.63% for pear pollen and 67.73% for apricot pollen). Caged workers fed different pollen diets also exhibited similar ovarian development ( > 0.05). However, workers fed apricot pollen had significantly larger hypopharyngeal glands than those fed pear pollen ( < 0.001). Our results indicated that the benefits conferred to honey bees by different pollen diets may influence their foraging preference.
由于同时有多种植物开花，蜜蜂在采集花粉时会对某些花粉类型表现出偏好。为了更好地理解花粉作为工蜂报酬的作用，我们比较了两种花粉日粮（即梨花粉和杏花粉）的消化率和营养价值。我们调查了笼养工蜂的访花情况、花粉消耗量和花粉采集效率。饲养新羽化的工蜂，并比较了两种花粉日粮对其生理状态（下咽腺和卵巢发育）的影响。选择测试实验表明，工蜂对杏花粉日粮的偏好显著高于梨花粉日粮（落蜂数量分别为29.5±8.11和9.25±5.10，P<0.001；花粉消耗量分别为0.052±0.026克/天和0.033±0.013克/天，P<0.05）。两种花粉日粮的采集效率相当（梨花粉为67.63%，杏花粉为
