Suplemento protéico artesanal para abelhas africanizadas

Abstract

Abstract -Honeybees play an important economic role in Northeastern Brazil. Beekeeping became a very promising activity in the semiarid backcountry as well as on the coast. Like other animals, honeybees require proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates (sugars), lipids (fatty acids, sterols), vitamins, minerals (salts), and water. These nutrients must be in the diet in a definite qualitative and quantitative ratio for optimum nutrition. Various foodstuffs might be used to supplement inadequate supplies of pollen or honey at times of the year when these materials are in short supply. Supplementary feeding may help the colony survive or make it more populous and productive. Certain protein foodstuffs Will improve nutrition and ensure continued colony development in places and times of shortage of natural pollen. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of a homebrew pollen substitute fed in patties to equalized honeybee colonies. We measured feed consumption, which is an indicator of palatability, and brood development. The experiment was carried out from August to November 2013, totalizing a 90-day feeding trial. Fifteen colonies (single story Langstroth) were selected and equalized at the Universidade Federal de Alagoas apiary. Three groups of five colonies each were randomly selected and assigned the treatments. Group I received the homebrew pollen substitute (brewer’s yeast, soybean meal, dried egg yolk, cinnamon, sugar, canola and linseed oil, citric acid and vitamins) plus syrup (cane sugar and water 1:1). Group II received a pollen supplement composed of local dried pollen mixed with cane sugar 1:1 plus syrup. Group III received only syrup. Consumption was measured by recording the total mass of food given to the colonies during the 90-day trial period minus the unconsumed food measured every 15 days. The brood area was measured using Al Tikirity’s method. Group I had an average consumption of 11.2 g.day-1 and group II an average consumption of 16.4 g.day-1. This could be considered a good consumption of food, which denotes the good palatability of the diets. It was expected that bees would have preferred the natural pollen diet to the homebrew substitute. On the other hand Group I showed a rapid and impressive development of the brood area in comparison to Group II and III. Group II and III followed a similar pattern with the brood area maintained at a plateau level and slowly increasing at the end of the experiment. It is to be noted that the end of the trial overlapped the beginning of the natural nectar flow and pollen production in the region. The results obtained here suggests that the homebrew substitute tested could be a valuable colony booster to be used by beekeepers before nectar flows or crop pollination events.