Arid Land Agriculture Department, College of Agricultural Sciences & Foods, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Economic Entomology, College of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt.
PLoS One. 2021 Dec 3;16(12):e0260865. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260865. eCollection 2021.
The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mainly use beeswax (comb) for brood rearing and food storage. Changes in the color and cell dimensions occur due to repeated food storage and brood rearing in the comb. The study aimed to determine the changes in comb cell measurements and worker body sizes in relation to comb age. For this purpose, the cell measurements of combs at age zero (wax foundation), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years and the body size of workers reared in them were estimated. The weight of the comb, the height of the cell base, and the weight of accumulated substances in the cell significantly increased with time. Comb age had negative effects on the cell diameter, cell depth, cell volume, cell honey or pollen capacity, and newly emerged worker body weight. Significant negative correlations were observed between the accumulated substances in a cell and the cell diameter, cell depth, and cell size, while significant positive correlations were observed among the cell volume, cell diameter, cell depth, cell honey capacity, cell pollen capacity, and worker body weight. It can be concluded that the dimensions of the comb cells and worker body size changed with the age of the comb. The obtained results recommend beekeepers to replace combs aged more than 3 years with a new comb to allow large workers to gather more nectar and pollen, rear a larger brood, and store more honey.
蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）主要使用蜂蜡（蜂巢）来育雏和储存食物。由于在蜂巢中反复储存食物和育雏，蜂巢的颜色和巢房尺寸会发生变化。本研究旨在确定与蜂巢年龄相关的巢房测量值和工蜂体型的变化。为此，我们对零龄（蜡基）、1 龄、2 龄、3 龄、4 龄、5 龄和 6 龄蜂巢的巢房测量值以及在其中饲养的工蜂体型进行了估计。随着时间的推移，蜂巢的重量、巢房底部的高度和巢房内积累物质的重量显著增加。蜂巢年龄对巢房直径、巢房深度、巢房体积、巢房蜂蜜或花粉容量以及新出现的工蜂体重有负面影响。在一个细胞内积累的物质与细胞直径、细胞深度和细胞大小之间存在显著的负相关，而细胞体积、细胞直径、细胞深度、细胞蜂蜜容量、细胞花粉容量和工蜂体重之间存在显著的正相关。可以得出结论，随着蜂巢年龄的增长，巢房的尺寸和工蜂体型发生了变化。研究结果建议养蜂人用新的蜂巢来替换超过 3 年的旧蜂巢，以允许体型较大的工蜂采集更多的花蜜和花粉，育更多的雏蜂，并储存更多的蜂蜜。
