| Abstract | This study was carried out to determine the effects of different colony feeding methods on queen cell acceptance rates and royal jelly (RJ) production: (1) pollen substitute (PS), (2) PS + vitamin E (PS+Ve), (3) sugar syrup (SS), (4) sugar syrup + vitamin E (SS+Ve), and (5) no supplementary feed (control, C). Royal jelly production (g per cell) was 0.25, 0.26 0.23, 0.25 and 0.21; average colony yield (g) per harvest 32.1, 33.2, 31.0, 34.6, and 25.0; and total colony production (g) 96.2, 99.6, 93.0, 103.9, and 75.0 in groups PS, PS+Ve, SS, SS+Ve, and C, respectively. Any form of supplementary feeding improved RJ production relative to controls. Total colony production and average colony yield per harvest were highest in those colonies fed SS+Ve or PS+Ve. A benefit of supplementary Ve was more apparent for sugar syrup than for pollen substitute; total colony production and average colony yield per harvest were significantly higher for SS+Ve colonies than for SS, whereas no such benefit was shown between the pollen substitute groups. |
