Investigation of Yield and Some Quality Features of Royal Jelly Harvested from Honeybee Colonies Fed with Food Substitutes

Abstract

Objective: In several nations, royal jelly is used in apitherapy, healthful foods, and cosmetics. The production and quality of royal jelly collected from honeybee colonies are being worked on by researchers and beekeepers. This study investigated the effect of honey and pollen substitute feeding on the production efficiency of royal jelly. In addition, analyses were conducted to determine the differences between fed and unfed groups in terms of 10-hydroxy-2-deconoic acid (10-HDA), protein and pH characteristics, honey, and pollen substitute.Material and Methods: In this research, the influence of honey and pollen substitute feeding on royal jelly production was examined using the ANOVA test for multiple comparisons by forming 3 different groups and conducting 2 replications. Also, features of the 10- hydroxy-2-deconoic acid (10-HDA), protein and pH of the royal jelly was analyzed for understanding differences among the non-feeding pollen and honey substitute feeding groups.Results: The average RJ quantity per queen cup for non-feeding colonies (Group A) was 420 mg, while the content of 10-HDA, protein and pH were 2.40%, 14.06% and 4.20%, respectively. For the colonies fed with sugar syrup (Group B), these values were 470 mg, 2.51%, 12.88%, 4.25 and for the colonies fed with syrup+pollen substitute (Group C) 530 mg, 4.05%, 13.13% and 4.18. The statistical test and contents analysis highlighted the impact of substitute feeding on average quantity amounts and 10-HDA. According to the results of the research, average RJ amounts in queen cell cup was significantly different in three honey bee colonies feeding groups (p<0.05). Colonies fed with sugar syrup +pollen substitute (Group C) colonies were filled the queen cell cups more amount of RJ than non-feeding (Group A) and fed with sugar syrup (Group B) colonies were filled RJ in the queen cell cups with significantly different. In the study, the colony fed with the sugar syrup +pollen substitute showed almost double the amount of 10-HDA value in RJ than non-feeding and fed with sugar syrup colonies. Protein and pH values shows no differences among the groups.Conclusion: Even at times when nectar and pollen were available in nature, it was observed in this research that providing pollen substitution feed to honey bee colonies supported the output and quality of royal jelly.