Evaluation of queen cell acceptance and royal jelly production between hygienic and non-hygienic honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

Abstract

Honey bees are crucial for pollination services globally and produce important hive products including honey, royal jelly, pollen, and propolis that are being used commercially in food, cosmetics, and alternative medicinal purposes. Among the bee products, royal jelly (RJ) has long attracted scientists’ interest because of its importance in honey caste differentiation. The present research was carried out to determine the acceptance rate of queen cells, and RJ production between the hygienic and non-hygienic lines. Further, this study unveils the effect of pollen substitute diets on the queen cell acceptance rate and RJ yields between both bee stocks. Results showed that the uncapped brood cells and dead brood’s removal percentage was significantly more in hygienic bee colonies in comparison to non-hygienic bee colonies (p < 0.05). The average percentage of larval acceptance was statistically higher in hygienic lines (64.33 ± 2.91%) compared to non-hygienic lines (29.67 ± 1.20%). Similarly, the RJ mean weight per colony differed statistically between both bee stocks (p<0.001), which were 12.23 ± 0.52 g and 6.72 ± 0.33 g, respectively. Moreover, our results demonstrated that a significant difference was observed in larval acceptance rate, RJ yields (per colony and per cup) between both bee stocks those fed on various diets. However, no significant difference was recorded in RJ yields (per colony and per cup) between both bee stock that feeds on either commercially available pollen or pollen substitute. This study may provide future applications in helping bee breeders to choose the bees that carry a higher level of hygienic behavior with high RJ production traits.

Investigation of Yield and Some Quality Features of Royal Jelly Harvested from Honeybee Colonies Fed with Food Substitutes

“…Therefore, one of the primary goals of royal jelly production operations is to increase the quality and quantity per colony via the creation of colony management systems. Numerous studies have shown the beneficial effects of honey and pollen substitute foods on the biology, brood growth, honey storage efficiency, comb construction, longevity, body weight, queen cell acceptance rate and queen cell weight of honey bee colonies (Herbert et al, 1977;Doull 1980;Winston et al, 1983;Dastouri and Maheri-Sis, 2007;Almaida-Dias et al, 2018;Adgaba et al, 2020;Oskay 2021;Khan and Ghramh 2022).…”

Retraction: Evaluation of queen cell acceptance and royal jelly production between hygienic and non-hygienic honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

“…The PLOS ONE Editors retract this article [ 1 ] because it was identified as one of a series of submissions for which we have concerns about authorship, competing interests, and peer review. We regret that the issues were not addressed prior to the article’s publication.…”