Evaluation of royal jelly quality and queens production by using natural food supplements in honeybee colonies

Abstract

The queen's production is one of the important and sensitive processes in beekeeping and certainly depended on royal jelly quality which plays an effective role in queen difference and vitality. This work suggested a novel plant feed supplements to improve royal jelly quality and enhance the vitality of newly emerged queens. Equal aliquots of Mahlab seed kernel powder (Prunus mahaleb L.)and date palm pollen (Phoenix dactylifera L.) were provided into colonies in a sugar patty formula for seven days before queen grafting and along for 21 days of the experiment compared to a traditional pollen patty and control sugar syrup. The supplemented patty recorded higher consumption rate of (85.44%) compared to the pollen patty (45.54%). Moreover, the new supplements showed the highest rate of queen acceptance and emergence percent compared to colonies fed on the pollen patty and syrup only. Regarding the new virgin queens' parameters, plant supplements lead to an increase in body and ovary weig