In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed
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Pavlović, Ratko![](/themes/MirageVinar/images/orcid.png)
Dojnov, Biljana
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Šokarda Slavić, Marinela
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Pavlović, Marija
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Slomo, Katarina
Ristović, Marina
Vujčić, Zoran
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Finding a pollen substitute for honey bees that is nutritionally adequate and affordable is a scientific and practical challenge. We attempted a new rational approach and tried to exploit honey bees’ natural cannibalistic behavior. We tested processed insect larvae as a food source that is nutritionally similar to bee brood, and which can easily be produced on a large scale. In cage experiments, monitoring bee mortality, food consumption and changes in bee body parts’ weights showed that flour obtained by grinding dried yellow mealworm larvae has the potential to become an excellent component for pollen substitution. Bees from the cage group fed Tenebrio molitor patties (TG) demonstrated overall best results in comparison to sugar patties fed bee group (CG), yeast patties fed bee group (YG) and pollen patties fed bee group (PG). They did not lose weight as rapidly as the CG, did not defecate inside cages as the YG, nor show increased mortality as the PG. At the same time, TG consumed l...ess food (mean 13.7 g/cage) than CG (16.8 g/cage), YG (20.4 g/cage) and PG (23.9 g/cage) within the period of 28 days. Bees’ gut increase in weight was lowest in the CG, followed by TG and PG and was the highest in the YG which resulted in diarrhea after 14 days. Bees from TG did not lag behind other bees in head, thorax and abdomen weight after 28 days. We demonstrated that processed yellow mealworm larvae (T. molitor) can be used as an ingredient for honey bee feed.
Keywords:
nutrition / supplement / Tenebrio molitor / yeast / Yellow mealwormSource:
Journal of Apicultural Research, 2022, 1-10
DOI: 10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950
ISSN: 0021-8839
WoS: 000810425100001
Scopus: 2-s2.0-85131726506
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VinčaTY - JOUR AU - Pavlović, Ratko AU - Dojnov, Biljana AU - Šokarda Slavić, Marinela AU - Pavlović, Marija AU - Slomo, Katarina AU - Ristović, Marina AU - Vujčić, Zoran PY - 2022 UR - https://vinar.vin.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/10303 AB - Finding a pollen substitute for honey bees that is nutritionally adequate and affordable is a scientific and practical challenge. We attempted a new rational approach and tried to exploit honey bees’ natural cannibalistic behavior. We tested processed insect larvae as a food source that is nutritionally similar to bee brood, and which can easily be produced on a large scale. In cage experiments, monitoring bee mortality, food consumption and changes in bee body parts’ weights showed that flour obtained by grinding dried yellow mealworm larvae has the potential to become an excellent component for pollen substitution. Bees from the cage group fed Tenebrio molitor patties (TG) demonstrated overall best results in comparison to sugar patties fed bee group (CG), yeast patties fed bee group (YG) and pollen patties fed bee group (PG). They did not lose weight as rapidly as the CG, did not defecate inside cages as the YG, nor show increased mortality as the PG. At the same time, TG consumed less food (mean 13.7 g/cage) than CG (16.8 g/cage), YG (20.4 g/cage) and PG (23.9 g/cage) within the period of 28 days. Bees’ gut increase in weight was lowest in the CG, followed by TG and PG and was the highest in the YG which resulted in diarrhea after 14 days. Bees from TG did not lag behind other bees in head, thorax and abdomen weight after 28 days. We demonstrated that processed yellow mealworm larvae (T. molitor) can be used as an ingredient for honey bee feed. T2 - Journal of Apicultural Research T1 - In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed SP - 1 EP - 10 DO - 10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950 ER -
@article{ author = "Pavlović, Ratko and Dojnov, Biljana and Šokarda Slavić, Marinela and Pavlović, Marija and Slomo, Katarina and Ristović, Marina and Vujčić, Zoran", year = "2022", abstract = "Finding a pollen substitute for honey bees that is nutritionally adequate and affordable is a scientific and practical challenge. We attempted a new rational approach and tried to exploit honey bees’ natural cannibalistic behavior. We tested processed insect larvae as a food source that is nutritionally similar to bee brood, and which can easily be produced on a large scale. In cage experiments, monitoring bee mortality, food consumption and changes in bee body parts’ weights showed that flour obtained by grinding dried yellow mealworm larvae has the potential to become an excellent component for pollen substitution. Bees from the cage group fed Tenebrio molitor patties (TG) demonstrated overall best results in comparison to sugar patties fed bee group (CG), yeast patties fed bee group (YG) and pollen patties fed bee group (PG). They did not lose weight as rapidly as the CG, did not defecate inside cages as the YG, nor show increased mortality as the PG. At the same time, TG consumed less food (mean 13.7 g/cage) than CG (16.8 g/cage), YG (20.4 g/cage) and PG (23.9 g/cage) within the period of 28 days. Bees’ gut increase in weight was lowest in the CG, followed by TG and PG and was the highest in the YG which resulted in diarrhea after 14 days. Bees from TG did not lag behind other bees in head, thorax and abdomen weight after 28 days. We demonstrated that processed yellow mealworm larvae (T. molitor) can be used as an ingredient for honey bee feed.", journal = "Journal of Apicultural Research", title = "In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed", pages = "1-10", doi = "10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950" }
Pavlović, R., Dojnov, B., Šokarda Slavić, M., Pavlović, M., Slomo, K., Ristović, M.,& Vujčić, Z.. (2022). In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed. in Journal of Apicultural Research, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950
Pavlović R, Dojnov B, Šokarda Slavić M, Pavlović M, Slomo K, Ristović M, Vujčić Z. In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed. in Journal of Apicultural Research. 2022;:1-10. doi:10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950 .
Pavlović, Ratko, Dojnov, Biljana, Šokarda Slavić, Marinela, Pavlović, Marija, Slomo, Katarina, Ristović, Marina, Vujčić, Zoran, "In pursuit of the ultimate pollen substitute (insect larvae) for honey bee (Apis mellifera) feed" in Journal of Apicultural Research (2022):1-10, https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2080950 . .