Effect of some artifical diets on queen the native queens of Apis mellifera L. (Apidae: Hymenoiptera) rearing in queenright colonies by using Jenter pparatus

Abstract

In a field studies were conducted in a private apiary located about 9 Km south of Kufa city. The experiments lasted for two spring seasons. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of some artificial diets on the native queens reared in queenright colonies by using jeter apparatus. The results showed no significance effect of diets was observed on transferred larvae acceptance percentage (TLAP) compared with the control colonies (which fed natural diets, honey and pollen). The TLAP of the test colonies were 21.10 ,21.48 and 5.40 % in colonies fed sucrose solution 50% , hony with date palm pollen and honey with Bee Pro® respectively while it was 35.96% in the control treatment. Hony with date palm pollen showed a significant reduction in days required for queen development, which was 14.91 days compared to 16.16 days in control colonies. A colonies fed, hony with date palm pollen, produced more royal jell per cup in age of 3rd days, which was higher than the rest of the treated colonies , but was not significant.