Sugar Stores in Honeybee Colonies Fed Sugar Solutions of Different Compositions

Abstract

SummaryUnder controlled conditions in a flight room, honeybee colonies with no food stores were given separately: (a) concentrated solutions of sucrose, (b) a mixture of pure D-glucose and D-fructose (pure invert sugar), (c) enzymatically hydrolysed sucrose, (d) enzymatically commercially produced invert sugar (Trimolin). All stores produced from these materials were extracted. Using the same feeding concentrations, the losses in dry matter during processing by the bees were lower with solutions containing reducing sugars; with the same solution the losses decreased when higher concentrations were used. Partial inversion of sucrose before feeding was sufficient to ensure that little sucrose remained after ripening in the cells. Residual sucrose in the stores showed a marked decrease after 6 days of storage in the laboratory. The bees added invertase during processing whatever the composition of the material fed. Invertase activity in stores produced from sugar solutions fed was lower than in honey produce...