Nutritional value of four proteinaceous diets and their physiological effects on honey bee workers were evaluated under laboratory conditions. The tested diets were as follows: diet 1 – date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) syrup, skimmed milk powder and dried brewer's yeast, diet 2 – Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.), Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) powders and dried brewer's yeast, diet 3 – chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) flour, wheat germ and dried brewer's yeast and diet 4 - soybean meal, skimmed milk powder and dried brewer's yeast, beside a control group (bee bread). Caged Carniolan honey bee workers were used in the experiments. The consumption rate, workers longevity, development degree of hypopharyngeal glands (HPG), and weight of rectal contents were determined. The greatest consumption rate was recorded for the control group while the lowest one was recorded for diet 4. Feeding bees on diet 3 gave the longest longevity (LT50= 27.0 days) among the tested diets and as a second rank after bees in the control group (LT50 = 29.0 days) while diet 4 showed the lowest longevity (LT50 =20.5 days). The highest HPG development degree (3.78) was recorded for 9 days old bees in the control group, followed by diet 3 (3.24) while the lowest degree (2.14) was to diet 4. The weight of rectal contents of honey bee workers was 13.43, 16.03 and 16.12 mg/bee/3 days for diet 3, diet 1 and diet 2, respectively, suggesting the suitability of these diets to bees. In light of this study, diet 3 and 2 have the best physiological effects for bees with good nutritional values.

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An uncapping machine was designed and fabricated to uncap both two sides of honeycomb leading to remove the thin wax layer that seals the honey cells. The developed uncapping machine is tested at the Agric. Eng. Res. Inst (2019) under four feeding chain speeds (10, 15, 20 and 25 rpm), four spiral knife speeds (150, 200, 250 and 300 rpm) and four levels of heating temperature for the uncapping device (without heating, 35 , 40 and 45 0 C). The interaction effect between different parameters for the uncapping device resulted in 192 tests. Measurements were taken for the machine productivity, uncapping efficiency and power requirement. The obtained results concluded that the uncapping machine can be operated successfully at the optimum operating parameters of 10 rpm feeding chain speed, 300 rpm spiral knife speed and 40 °C of spiral knife temperature. These operating conditions cause an uncapping efficiency of 95.2 %, productivity of 240 frames / h, consumed specific energy of 8.9×10-3 kW.h/frame. The uncapping machine reduced the estimated cost by 3 times than the manual knife uncapping. Therefore, the developed uncapping honeycombs machine is considered an effective solution for precise controlling of uncapping honeycomb invade Egyptian beekeepers and it gives continuous satisfactory uncapping.

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he current study aims to determine the effect of partial substitution of soybean meal (SBM) with Vespa Oriental meal (VOM) [(0%, VOM 0 ), 25% (VOM 25 ), and 50% (VOM 50 )] in the diets of thirty 12-week-old V-line male rabbits with an average body weight of 1.060±0.01kg on growth performance, digestion, and some blood biochemical changes. The experiment lasted for 90 days. The results revealed that the crude protein (CP) contents of VOM and SBM used in the present study were 76.84 and 43.76 %, respectively, Furthermore, the digestibility of CP (74.65 % & 76.07 %,) and nitrogen free extract (NFE) (68.390 & 70.123 %,) was considerably higher in rabbits fed VOM 25 and VOM 50 , respectively than in rabbits fed VOM 0 (72.033 % & 65.44 %). The daily body gain in rabbits fed the VOM 50 diet was 9.18 %, higher than in rabbits on the VOM 0 diet. Also, the VOM 25 and VOM 50 diet-fed rabbits had considerably larger carcass weight, liver, kidney, and cecum length than the control group. Total volatile fatty acids were significantly higher in the caecal contents of VOM 25 and VOM 50 rabbits, despite lower caecal Ammonia-N concentration compared to the control diet. Hematological parameters, live and renal functions of rabbits fed the VOM 50 diet were considerably improved compared to those fed the control diet. The VOM 25 and VOM 50 groups exhibited better TDN and DCP values (P < 0.05) than the control group in terms of nutritional value. It is concluded that Vespa Orientalis wasp meal can be used as an effective alternative high-quality protein source to soybean meal, up to 50%, with no adverse impacts on rabbit's performance.