The effect of a novel dietary supplement based on fishery industry waste hydrolysate, essential fatty acids and phytochemicals on honey bee nuclei development

RAMOS FACUNDO; SZAWARSKI NICOLAS; MITTON GIULIA; IGLESIAS, AZUCENA; DE FEUDIS LEONARDO; CASTELLINI, DAMIAN; GIMÉNEZ MARTÍNEZ, PABLO DARIAN; CORONA MIGUEL; EGUARAS MARTIN; MAGGI MATIAS

JOURNAL OF APICULTURAL RESEARCH

INT BEE RESEARCH ASSOC

Año: 2021

0021-8839

Honey bees require multiple sources of nectar and pollen to obtain balanced nutrition. However, increased habitat fragmentation has reduced the availability of floral resources, making necessary the use of dietary supplementation to restore the nutritional balance of honey bee colonies. The formulation of effective supplements requires the identification and testing of candidate components, especially at the colony-level. Abscisic acid (ABA) and p-coumaric acid (CUM) are two important phytochemicals that have been reported to improve honey bee health through the activation of their immune and detoxification systems. In this study, we evaluated the affectivity of a nutritional supplement (COMP) composed by absicic acid, p- coumaric acid, fish protein hydrolyzate (FPH), and essential omega fatty acids (O3/6) in nuclei colonies. We first evaluated the toxicity of COMP against Apis mellifera compared with the control (sugar syrup) in laboratory bioassays during 96 hours. Then, we tested the effect on the amount of brood, honey, and pollen in bee hives nuclei supplemented whit COMP during thirty days. In addition, we quantified and compared the concentration of total proteins in individual honey bees collected at the beginning and at the end of the field experiment. We showed that COMP is palatable, non-toxic to Apis mellifera and significantly increases the amount of open brood and pollen reserves of bee nuclei compared with nuclei feed with sugar syrup.