Khan Khalid Ali, Ghramh Hamed A, Ahmad Zubair
Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
Unit of Bee Research and Honey Production, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi J Biol Sci. 2022 May;29(5):3151-3156. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.01.056. Epub 2022 Jan 29.
Honey bee colony nutritional dynamics depend on the availability of floral resources throughout a countryside with varying forage circumstances. Few studies quantify the queen fecundity and colony performance about certain management approaches on a broad scale. The present study was conducted to investigate the queen bee fecundity and various colony performance parameters in response to different nutritional practices, i.e., Group-I, supplied with sucrose solution (1:1; w/v), Group-II, provided with locally available commercial pollen substitute, Group-III, supplied with both sucrose solution + locally available commercial pollen substitute, and Group-IV without any sugar solution and pollen substitute. Our results demonstrated that eggs laid by queen bees were significantly higher (1241.83 ± 46.24) in Group-III than in other groups over the time of observations. Similarly, a significant difference was noticed in the mean sealed worker brood area and honey store area between the different groups of management practices. Both, the max mean sealed worker brood area (2153.53 ± 29.18 cm) and max mean honey store area (1713.33 ± 12.06 cm) were observed in Group-III while, the mini mean sealed worker brood area (1066.53 ± 20.18 cm) and mini mean honey store area (1058.86 ± 4.07 cm) were observed in Group-IV. In contrast, a non-significant difference was observed in pollen stores between Group-II and Group-III (p > 0.005). Current findings add to our understanding of the mechanisms that underpin large-scale controlled colony performance when the natural pollens resources are insufficient.
蜜蜂蜂群的营养动态取决于整个乡村不同饲料环境下花卉资源的可获得性。很少有研究在大规模范围内量化某些管理方法对蜂王繁殖力和蜂群性能的影响。本研究旨在调查蜂王繁殖力和各种蜂群性能参数对不同营养方式的响应，即第一组，供应蔗糖溶液（1:1；w/v）；第二组，提供当地可得的商业花粉替代品；第三组，供应蔗糖溶液 + 当地可得的商业花粉替代品；第四组，不提供任何糖溶液和花粉替代品。我们的结果表明，在观察期内，第三组蜂王产下的卵（1241.83 ± 46.24）显著高于其他组。同样，在不同管理方式组之间，平均封盖子脾面积和蜂蜜储存面积也存在显著差异。第三组观察到最大平均封盖子脾面积（2153.53 ± 29.18平方厘米）和最大平均蜂蜜储存面积（1713.33 ± 12.06平方厘米），而第四组观察到最小平均封盖子脾面积（1066.53 ± 20.18平方厘米）和最小平均蜂蜜储存面积（1058.86 ± 4.07平方厘米）。相比之下，第二组和第三组之间的花粉储存量差异不显著（p > 0.005）。当前的研究结果有助于我们理解在天然花粉资源不足时支撑大规模可控蜂群性能的机制。
