The study evaluated the influence of stimulative feeding of nurse bees on royal jelly production in the absence of a maintenance nectar flow. Four groups of queenless rearing colonies were formed and administered 50% sugar syrup supplemented with the biostimulant MF-SIB-49 at doses of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.2 mL/L, while the control group received pure sugar syrup. Frames with 45, 90 and 135 grafted larvae were introduced over three production cycles, and larval acceptance, queen-cell diameter and length, queen-cell mass with larva and royal jelly, and royal jelly yield per queen cell and per colony were assessed. The best overall results were obtained in the group fed with 2.0 mL/L biostimulant, where the total amount of royal jelly reached 66.144 g over three cycles, representing 45.4% more than in the control group. The results show that the stimulative feeding can improve larval acceptance, queen-cell development and royal jelly yield, especially when administered at an optimal dose during the larval rearing period. Following the evaluation, it was found that, in the absence of a maintenance nectar flow, feeding nurse bees with a mixture of sugar syrup and biostimulant stimulates royal jelly secretion, which is necessary for the development of grafted larvae.

royal jelly, nurse bees, stimulative feeding, biostimulant, larval acceptance

agronomy

Presentation: poster