Liang Ruonan, Liang Cheng, Zhang Yi, Huang Jiaxing, Ding Guiling
State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China.
Sericulture and Apiculture Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Mengzi 661101, China.
Insects. 2025 Apr 3;16(4):383. doi: 10.3390/insects16040383.
In recent years, honey bees have been stressed by multiple factors, with malnutrition posing a significant threat to the healthy development of honey bee colonies. To keep a colony healthy and productive, beekeepers supply their colonies with supplementary pollen or commercial pollen substitutes during periods of pollen dearth or insufficient pollen quantity or quality. In this study, we evaluated the effects of four natural pollen types (oilseed rape pollen, camellia pollen, lotus pollen and buckwheat pollen) and two commercial pollen substitutes (Diet 1 and Diet 2) against a control group (sucrose solution) on through cage experiments. The food consumption, live body weight, longevity, hypopharyngeal gland development and midgut proteolytic enzyme activity of caged workers were measured. The food consumption rates of oilseed rape pollen and buckwheat pollen were greater than the other diets. Oilseed rape pollen and camellia pollen were recognized as excellent-quality diets for hypopharyngeal gland development and midgut proteolytic enzyme activity. Over the entire experimental period, the caged workers fed with lotus pollen had a similar diet consumption and body weight to those fed with pollen substitutes, and these bees had a significantly higher survival rate than those fed with other diets. The results indicated that the commercial pollen substitutes appeared to be less beneficial to caged workers than the natural pollen resources.
近年来，蜜蜂受到多种因素的压力，营养不良对蜂群的健康发展构成重大威胁。为了保持蜂群的健康和生产力，养蜂人在花粉短缺或花粉数量或质量不足的时期，为蜂群提供补充花粉或商业花粉替代品。在本研究中，我们通过笼养实验评估了四种天然花粉类型（油菜花粉、茶花花粉、莲花花粉和荞麦花粉）和两种商业花粉替代品（日粮1和日粮2）相对于对照组（蔗糖溶液）对笼养工蜂的影响。测量了笼养工蜂的食物消耗量、活体重量、寿命、下咽腺发育和中肠蛋白水解酶活性。油菜花粉和荞麦花粉的食物消耗率高于其他日粮。油菜花粉和茶花花粉被认为是促进下咽腺发育和中肠蛋白水解酶活性的优质日粮。在整个实验期间，喂食莲花花粉的笼养工蜂的食物消耗量和体重与喂食花粉替代品的工蜂相似，并且这些蜜蜂的存活率显著高于喂食其他日粮的蜜蜂。结果表明，商业花粉替代品对笼养工蜂的益处似乎不如天然花粉资源。
