Evaluation of queen cell acceptance and royal jelly production between hygienic and non-hygienic honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

Honey bees are crucial for pollination services globally and produce important hive products including honey, royal jelly, pollen, and propolis that are being used commercially in food, cosmetics, and alternative medicinal purposes. Among the bee products, royal jelly (RJ) has long attracted scienti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-03, Vol.17 (3), p.e0266145-e0266145
Main Authors: Khan, Khalid Ali, Ghramh, Hamed A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceptance
Agricultural production
Alzheimer's disease
Animals
Apis mellifera
Beekeeping
Bees
Biology and Life Sciences
Carbohydrates
Caste differentiation
Colonies
Cosmetics
Diet
Dietary minerals
Experiments
Fatty Acids
Food
Genetic aspects
Health aspects
Honey
Honeybee
Hygiene
Materials science
Medicine and Health Sciences
Plant reproduction
Pollen
Pollination
Proteins
Royal jelly
Social aspects
Social Sciences
Substitutes
Vitamins
Yield
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Summary:Honey bees are crucial for pollination services globally and produce important hive products including honey, royal jelly, pollen, and propolis that are being used commercially in food, cosmetics, and alternative medicinal purposes. Among the bee products, royal jelly (RJ) has long attracted scientists' interest because of its importance in honey caste differentiation. The present research was carried out to determine the acceptance rate of queen cells, and RJ production between the hygienic and non-hygienic lines. Further, this study unveils the effect of pollen substitute diets on the queen cell acceptance rate and RJ yields between both bee stocks. Results showed that the uncapped brood cells and dead brood's removal percentage was significantly more in hygienic bee colonies in comparison to non-hygienic bee colonies (p < 0.05). The average percentage of larval acceptance was statistically higher in hygienic lines (64.33 ± 2.91%) compared to non-hygienic lines (29.67 ± 1.20%). Similarly, the RJ mean weight per colony differed statistically between both bee stocks (p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0266145