INFLUENCE OF SUPPLEMENTAL DIETS ON APIS MELLIFERA L. COLONIES FOR HONEY PRODUCTION
Rashid Mahmood*, Elizabeth Stephen Wagchoure* and Ghulam Sarwar*
ABSTRACT
Four pollen supplemental diets were tested for their performance in supporting the bee colonies of Apis mellifera during August, 2011 and January, 2012 in the premises of Honey bee Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan, to investigate alternative nutrients to pollen grain. Sixteen A. mellifera bee hives were selected alike with respect to number of frames and bees present in them. Honey bee colonies were divided into four groups of four colonies each. The honey extracted from the T (soybean diet), T (gram 1 2 diet), T (maize diet) and T (sugar only) was 21.3 kg ± 0.22, 24.4 kg ± 0.29, 3 4 19.3 kg ± 0.11 and 16 kg ± 0.11 respectively. The honey produced after the treatment of pollen with gram (T ) was significantly better than that 2 produced by the bees fed on other pollen supplemental diets. There was no significant difference for royal jelly production.
To share on other social networks, click on any share button. What are these?
