EFECTS OF SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING FOR DIFFERENT PERIODS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF HONEY BEE DRONES | ||
| Assiut Journal of Agricultural Sciences | ||
| Article 9, Volume 39, Issue 3, October 2008, Pages 105-123 PDF (456.83 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ajas.2008.269865 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Mohamed M. Khodairy1; Mohamed A. Abdalla2; Adham M. Moustafa2 | ||
| 1Plant Protection Dept., Fac. of Agric. Assiut Univ | ||
| 2Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The investigation was carried out in apiary at Sohag region during the period from the first of January to the first of April, 2008. The effects of supplemental feeding for different periods on activity of colonies, and their relation to drones production were studied. Positive correlations were found between supplemental feeding and each of bee population size, workers and drones brood-rearing activity, stored pollen and weight of both drone body and mucus gland. Bee colonies fed on supplemental feeding at different periods produced significantly more bees, workers and drones brood and stored pollen than unfed control colonies. The maximum average of each of bee population size (11361 bee/ colony), workers brood area (605.2 inch2/colony) and stored pollen (80.7 inch2/ colony) resulted from bee colonies fed for 10-weeks period. Whereas the feeding period of 8-weeks gave the highest average of drones brood (34.6 inch2/ colony), marking a 64.8% increment as compared with unfed control colonies. The feeding period of 10-weeks gave the highest average weight of both mature drone body (180.8 mg) and mucus gland (12.8 mg), inducing 12.3% and 19.6% increment in weight of drone body and mucus gland, respectively relative to the unfed control. Meanwhile, the highest increment in weight of newly emerged drones was 4.8% resulted from 10-weeks feeding period. The coefficient of determination was 0.21, indicating that the feeding periods, bee population, workers brood, and stored pollen accounted for 21% of drone production changes | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Honey bee; drones brood; supplemental feeding; body weight; mucus gland | ||
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