Effect of stearin and paraffin adulteration of beeswax on brood survival

Abstract

The study examined the effect of stearin and paraffin adulteration of the wax foundation on brood survival. In combs formed on a stearin-adulterated wax foundation (10, 30, and 50% stearin, which means: 3.9, 11.7, and 19.5% of stearic acid, respectively), the survival of brood decreased statistically significantly (p ≤ 0.001) compared to the survival rates noted on a pure beeswax foundation. The brood appearance resembled the so-called scattered brood although the queens oviposited normally. The scattered brood was caused by the death of young larvae, most probably due to changes in the properties of royal jelly. Larvae transferred into stearin-adulterated wax cups died as well. The adulteration of the wax foundation with paraffin (10, 30, and 50%) did not reduce the survival of the brood but lowered the mechanical strength of the combs. Adulteration of wax with even a small amount of stearin/stearic acid makes it useless for apiculture.

Motivation of Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, Colonies to Draw out Wax Foundations and to Build Combs

“…On the other hand, scattered brood were noticed during the first cycle of brood reared in combs built on bad foundation sheets. This fining was not in accordance with Chẹć et al (2021) who found that in combs built on wax foundation adulterated with 10, 30 or 50% of paraffin did not reduce the survival of the brood. But, obtained results were consonant with their results regarding wax foundations adulterated with 10, 30 or 50% of stearin: the survival of brood significantly decreased compared to the survival rates noted on pure beeswax foundations resulting in scattered brood caused by the death of young larvae.…”

“…These procedures could diminish the quality of foundations, and later increases the potentiality of scattered brood appearance. Pay attention to these problems is desired, hence the need for beeswax quality control (Daniele et al, 2018;Eshete and Eshetie, 2018;Chẹć et al, 2021).…”

“…At present, the problem of wax adulteration has not been sufficiently studied. Only few studies have been carried out to assess the effects of paraffin and other additives (Castro et al 2010;Semkiw and Skubida 2013;Chẹć et al, 2021). Thus, another objective of this work is to develop paint materials (beeswax based creams) to motivate building wax foundation by bee workers.…”

Optimization of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) Adsorption from a Water Solution on Biochar Originating from Honeycomb Biomass

“…The “Miodek” Apiary Farm in Lublin (Poland) was the manufacturer of the starting material (slumgum (RS)) [ 35 ].…”