Evaluation of Pollen Substitute for Indian Honey Bee Apis cerana indica F

Studies were carried out tofind the effect of newpollen substitute developed, on different colony growth parameters like sealed brood area, pollen storage area, adult bee population and honey storage of Indian bee (Apis cerana indica), in the apiary of TNAU, Coimbatore. Six protein rich artificial diets or pollen substitutes (PS) containing any one of the locally available pulse powders namely defatted soy flour (DSF), parched red gramflour (PRGF), parched black gram flour (PBGF), parched Bengal gram flour (PBeGF), parched green gram flour (PGGF) and parched horsegram flour (PHGF) mixedwith skimmed milk powder (SMP), sucrose powder (S), glucose (G) and honey (H)that contained nutrientssimilar to and can substitute natural pollen were fed to Indian bee colonies. The colonies were provided with the PS at the rate of 2g/frame strength (FS) of honey bees in the form of patties on top bars of hive. The results of experiments revealed that there was profoundincrease in all colony growth parametersin hives provided with pollen substitutes compared to control. Out of the six treatments, colonies fed with red gram based diet (PRGF 26%+ SMP 24%+ S 5%+ G 10%+ H 35%) had greater impact and there was increase in area of sealed brood from 174.3cm2 to 1004.3 cm2, pollen storage area from 79.0 cm2 to 239.7cm2, adult bee population from approximately 4400 bees per colony to 9333 and honey storage area from 52.0 to 1310.3cm2. Control hives recorded low values of sealed brood area (575 cm2), pollen storage area (157.3 cm2), adult bee population (4533 bees per colony) and honey storage area (736 cm2).