Abstract
Simple SummaryDespite the use of honey bee brood as food among several communities of the world, the nutritional potential of drones remained unexplored for a long time. In the recent past some scientific endeavour, including our own previous work, has been undertaken to explore the nutrient quality of this food source. Due to their limited socio-biological role, honey bee drones would be a suitable candidate to compare their nutrient content with that of worker honey bees. We therefore investigated the nutrient composition of honey bee drones belonging to two subspecies, namely Apis mellifera carnica and A. m. mellifera covering their pupal developmental period. To possess information of the drones’ nutritional value during their development would help in choosing the most suitable developmental stage for the commercial production of drone brood as food.We examined the contents of nutritional importance, i.e., amino acids, fatty acids and minerals of different developmental stages of drones of two honey bee subspecies, namely Apis mellifera carnica and A. m. mellifera. The results revealed that, in general, individual amino acid amounts and therefore the total protein increased along with the developmental stages of the drones. No statistically significant differences were found between the same developmental stages of the two subspecies. The reverse, i.e., a decrease with developmental stage occurred in relation to the fatty acid composition. Most of the minerals were higher at advanced developmental stages. Overall, the high protein content (31.4–43.4%), small amount of fat (9.5–11.5%) and abundance of minerals such asiron and zinc, make drones a suitable nutritional resource. Even though nutrient content, especially protein, was higher in the pupae than the prepupae, we propose prepupae also as a commercial product based on their higher biomass production. Provided standard production protocols maintaining hygiene and safety will be adhered to, we propose that drone honey bees can be utilized as human food or animal feed.
Highlights
Humans have interacted with honey bees since ancient times
With the help of the DNA barcoding method we confirmed the specimens as Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera mellifera
The results revealed that the body weights in both subspecies decreased significantly as the development progressed
Summary
Humans have interacted with honey bees since ancient times. Archaeological evidence such as Egyptian bee iconography dating back to approx. 2400 BC, beeswax found in the pottery from Europe and Africa [1,2], the existence of prehistoric cave paintings depicting honey collection [3] and the discovery of an apiary of an industrial nature from the Iron Age at Tel Reh. ov during the Beth-Shean Valley archaeological project by [4] all testify to this age-old connection between humans and bees.Keeping honey bees and looking after them is known from the antiquity and appears to have arisen in various parts of the world with a focus on Asia. Humans have interacted with honey bees since ancient times. Archaeological evidence such as Egyptian bee iconography dating back to approx. 2400 BC, beeswax found in the pottery from Europe and Africa [1,2], the existence of prehistoric cave paintings depicting honey collection [3] and the discovery of an apiary of an industrial nature from the Iron Age at Tel Reh. ov during the Beth-Shean Valley archaeological project by [4] all testify to this age-old connection between humans and bees. Despite the practice of consuming bee brood in several parts of the world (to name but a few places: Australia: [8]; Zambia: [9]; Tanzania: [10]; Thailand: [11]; Mexico: [12]; Ecuador: [13]), honey bee brood itself has received comparatively little appreciation
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