The content of micro elements in the tissues of honey bees fed with magnesium citrate

Abstract

The article presents experimental data on the mineral composition of tissues of honey bees under the conditions of magnesium citrate feeding. The research was conducted in two stages on bees of the Carpathian breed. The first stage was carried out on five groups of bees, 196–249 in each, under a laboratory thermostat. Bees of the control (I) group received daily 1 ml of 50 % sugar syrup (SS) and 1 ml of H2O; II group (experimental) – 1 ml of SS with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate containing 0.4 mg Mg/l; III group (experimental) – similarly to II with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate (2 mg Mg/l); IV group (experimental) – similarly to II with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate (3 mg Mg/l); Group V (experimental) is similar to II with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate (4 mg Mg/l). The bees of the control and experimental groups were kept in identical conditions of a laboratory thermostat TS-80M-3 with micro ventilation at a relative humidity of 75 % and a temperature of 30.0 °С during 20 days of the research. The following II stages of the study were conducted on four groups of bees, 25–30 in each. Bees of the control (I) group received daily 1 ml of 50 % SS and 1 ml of H2O; II group (experimental) – 1 ml of SS with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate containing 0.04 mg Mg/l; III group (experimental) – similarly to II with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate (0.02 mg Mg/l); IV group (experimental) – similarly to II with the addition of 1 ml of Mg citrate (0.01 mg Mg/l). Bees of the control and experimental groups were kept in the same conditions of the TS-80M-3 laboratory thermostat as in the I stage. The study duration was 20 days in the I stage and 30 days in the II stage. Bees were selected from all groups to determine the content of microelements in tissue homogenates of their entire body. The results were processed statistically using the Microsoft Excel computer program. According to the study results, the Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn content in the body tissues of bees differed between groups. Decreased content of Ferrum, Zinc, and Manganese was found in the bees of III and V experimental groups (I stage). According to the results of the II stage of research on the determination of the content of Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn in the tissues of the entire body of bees, the inhibitory effect of lower doses of Mg citrate on the accumulation of these elements in their body was observed. The established changes in the bee tissues of the experimental groups compared to the control group indicate certain physiological features of the accumulation and distribution of the studied trace elements in the body of the bees during their feeding with nanotechnological magnesium citrate.