Abstract
Western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) collect pollen from flowers as their source of protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Beekeepers feed pollen substitutes to their honey bee colonies to mitigate a lack of natural pollen resources in the environment. Despite their widespread use, it is unclear if pollen substitutes are beneficial to colony health and productivity. Herein, we review the literature regarding pollen substitute efficacy in four major categories: (1) consumption/palatability of pollen substitutes, (2) colony productivity, (3) pest and disease response, and (4) physiological response. Collectively, the literature shows a mix of positive, neutral, and negative impacts of pollen substitutes on honey bee colony health. Additionally, we recommend areas for improvement in pollen substitute research. We hope this review will lead to more research on pollen substitutes given nutrition is a key factor impacting the health of managed honey bees globally.
Highlights
Western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.; hereafter “honey bee”) require nectar and pollen from flowers for a complete diet
The purpose of this review is to synthesize the previous research conducted on pollen substitute diets and their impacts on honey bee colony health, evaluate methods used to test pollen substitutes, recommend areas for improvement in pollen substitute research and suggest future research needs
Fat bodies were the same size in bees fed pure dry spirulina and in bees fed pollen in the laboratory (Ricigliano and Simone-Finstrom, 2020). Both pure dry spirulina and pollen resulted in larger fat bodies in bees than did sugar alone (Ricigliano and Simone-Finstrom, 2020). These results suggest that high quality pollen substitutes can increase honey bee fat body size when natural pollen is lacking, but more research is necessary to determine this
Summary
Western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.; hereafter “honey bee”) require nectar and pollen from flowers for a complete diet. They convert nectar into honey, which provides carbohydrates for energy (Brodschneider and Crailsheim, 2010). They convert pollen to bee bread which provides the protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals that immature bees need to grow and develop (Brodschneider and Crailsheim, 2010). Pollen needs to be available both in adequate quantity and quality to enhance honey bee colony health (Brodschneider and Crailsheim, 2010). Increases in commodity crop cultivation, notably corn and soybean, have been linked to nutritional stress in managed honey bees because these crops are poor sources of pollen
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