Effects of Attractants and Phagostimulants in Pollen and Pollen Supplement on the Feeding Behaviour of Honeybees in the Hive

Abstract

SummaryThe source of the stimuli which attract bees to almond pollen was found to occur in a benzene extract of the pollen, referred to as the “attractant fraction”. When a pollen supplement containing this fraction was compared with untreated pollen supplement, it was preferred by more than 90% of the bees counted.Pollen with added fructose-glucose syrup was more attractive than a pollen with water only, which in turn was more attractive than dry pollen. Similarly, pollen supplement plus the attractant fraction was more attractive when mixed with fructose-glucose syrup than when mixed with water alone. Pollen supplement containing the attractant fraction and sucrose was as attractive as one in which the sugars were sucrose, fructose and glucose in equal weights, but more bees fed on the supplement containing the three sugars than on one that contained only fructose and glucose. There was no significant difference between the numbers of bees counted on pollen supplement containing honey, or sucrose, or fructose and glucose in equal proportions.