22 Ara 2024 Pazar
Amino acids quantification in supplementary diet(s) formulated for honeybees to be fed during lean periods
Abstract :The problems of deleterious influence of adverse weather conditions and non-availability of bee flora round the year, in a particular locality, have been realized by beekeepers and bee scientists and migration concept has been developed to solve this problem. But again, migration itself is not an easy task, it involves lot of expenses, labour and yet it is not risk-free. It has been estimated that even following the concept of migratory beekeeping, approximately 40 % colonies die out annually during dearth period. An alternative strategy of migration is artificial feeding (nectar and pollen substitutes) to the bee colonies so that egg laying, brood rearing and some foraging activities continue, enough bee population is maintained and the advantage of forthcoming rich bee flora can be taken. In India, most of the beekeepers either do not provide any external food to bee colonies or just use sugar syrup. However, it is often emphasized by bee scientists that provision of pollen supplement or substitute will be helpful in saving weaker colonies and maintaining enough bee population to derive benefits of future non-dearth period. But the practice of protein source feeding is not followed due to several reasons like un-awareness, non-availability of commercial readymade formulation (s), lack of explicit recommendations, confused recommendations, high cost of recommended ingredients etc. Most of the beekeepers or bee scientists, working on artificial feed paid their attention to following points: nutrient composition of honey and pollen, natural foods of honey bees, nutritional requirements of honey bees, formulation of honey and pollen supplements and substitutes, acceptability, attractancy palatability, digestibility and affordability of honey and pollen supplements and substitutes, methods of feed supply to bee colonies etc. However, the concentration of amino acid is of immense importance in formulating the supplementary diet for honeybees. In the current study, efforts were made to analyse the concentration of amino acids in six formulated diets to be fed to bee colonies during lean periods.
Supplementary diet, honeybees, protein, amino acid, lean period