The effect of different pastes containing Zarnam corn syrup on performance indicators, colony population, and feed intake in honey bee

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Behrooz Dastar ¹
• Abdolhakim Toghdory ²
• Shahram Kotook ²
• Ruhollah Mastani ²
• Bahareh Borhani ³
• Arash Ershadi ³

¹ Department of Animal and Poultry Nutrition, Faculty of Animal Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

² Department of Animal and Poultry Nutrition, Faculty of Animal Science, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

³ Zarnam Research and Industrial group, Knowledge-Based Research Center, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Keywords

• honey bee
• corn syrup
• colony performance
• sweet dough
• sucrose

Main Subjects

• Animal Nutrition and poultry

Extended Abstract

Honey bees take large amounts of their protein, fat, minerals and vitamins needs from pollen and their energy from glucose and fructose sugars from flowers’ nectar under natural conditions. In some times, the flower nectars in a region cannot meet the needs of bee colonies in terms of quantity or quality. For this reason, beekeepers use sugar, which consists of the disaccharide sucrose, as the most important alternative to flower nectar during the shortage time or to stimulate the colony to increase the population. The sugar can be used as a syrup or sweet paste. For bees to process carbohydrates and store them in form of honey, they must first break down disaccharides into monosaccharides to be able to pass through the midgut wall to bee hemolymph for further use by cells. Corn syrup is a cheap food source for bee feeding, which has received particular attention at present due to its preparation time and cost compare to sucrose solution, in addition to its ease of use and cheaper price for bee feeding. Since the sugar profile of corn syrup is very similar to honey, its use in beekeeping has been widely spread. Corn syrup, obtained by multi-step enzymatic hydrolysis of corn starch, is a mixture of glucose and fructose and is a cheap and available source of carbohydrates, which is also used as a common nutritional sweetener in human consumption. Corn syrup is processed with fructose percentages of 42, 55 and 90, the rest of which are glucose sugar and hydrolysable polymers. Corn syrup is in liquid form, and if it becomes a paste, it can replace the commercial paste compounds called sweet paste (a product of micronized sugar) in the commercial market. So corn syrup could be a suitable alternative in bee nutrition because its composition is very similar to honey, and most of it is monosaccharides. In this experiment, Zarnam corn syrup was mixed with different plant feedstuffs to prepare experimental treatments and evaluate them with sucrose fondant paste. The performance indicators, colony population, and feed intake of honey bees were measured during six periods of three weeks.

Materials and Methods

Fourthy two honey bee colonies were prepared with the same population, larva and pupa, and pollen and honey reserves conditions. After two weeks of preparing the colonies, experimental treatments which were prepared in the form of paste were provided to them. Seven colonies were allocated to each of the six experimental treatments. Experimental treatments were a commercial sugar fondant paste, Zarnam syrup paste, enriched Zarnam syrup paste, Zarnam syrup herbal paste, and sucrose paste, and were compared during six periods of three weeks in a repeated measure design. The hives had sister queens of the same age, and all the hives had the same number of larvae, eggs, and pupae before starting the experiment. After ensuring that the queens spawned, they were fed dilute sucrose syrup for two weeks to stimulate the colonies to activate and spawn the queens.

Results

The results of the experiment showed that among the corn syrup paste treatments, the bee hives that were fed with the enriched corn syrup herbal paste treatment had statistically the same colony population, larva and pupa rate, egg laying rate, and pollen storage as compared to the sugar fondant paste treatment (P<0.05). Honey storage and feed consumption in sugar fondant paste were significantly higher than in other experimental treatments (P<0.05). The amount of honey storage and feed consumption increased significantly, while the colony population, larva and pupa rate, egg laying rate, and pollen storage increased over experimental time (P<0.05).

Conclusion

The results of this experiment show that Zarnam corn syrup can be prepared as a paste and used as a part of a pollen substitute and pollen supplement. Minerals and vitamins can also be added to the paste made from corn syrup. However, honey bees seem to consume less fructose-enriched plant paste than commercial paste. The reason is likely the presence of a significant amount of protein , other nutrients and a sufficient amount of carbohydrates as an energy source. Therefore, the use of herbal Zarnam corn syrup paste due to its reasonable price, ease of use compared to sugar, and other advantages can be a suitable solution to reduce the cost and increase productivity in the bee colony.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Vice president for Research and Technology of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and also Management of Zarnam Research and Industrial group.

Ethical considerations

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.