Quantitative comparison of lipids in some pollens and their phagostimulatory effects in honey bees

Abstract

Lipid extraction in honey bee collected corbiculum pollen from seven plant host species showed distinct differences in amounts of lipid within preferred/non-preferred honey bee pollens. Mean amounts of lipid in highly preferred pollens such as Brassica campestris var. Toria, Cosmos bipinnatus and Raphanus sativum were 20.3%, 19.4% and 17.8%, respectively, and in least preferred pollens such as Helianthus annuus and Petunia hybrida were 11.9% and 11.6%, respectively. The cumulative flabellogustatory responses further demonstrated a significant linear increase in stimulatory effects to B. campestris pollen lipid extracts, whereas the response repertoire with P. hybrida was of reverse order. The bee responses to an identical lipid concentration of B. campestris, Dahlia sp., H. annuus and P. hybrida manifested dear evidence for inhibitory effects of H. annuus lipids to Apis mellifera and A dorsata suggesting that pollen lipids play a considerable role in honey bee preference for pollen collection. TABLE 1. Intraspecific comparisons for total lipid content (%of dry pollen mass) in bee-preferred and non-preferred pollens. Crop (common name) A pis A pis A pisHand collected Cumulative dorsata mellifem flo rea pollen I mean Bee-preferred pollensBrassica campestris (toria) Brassica ju ncea ( sarso n) Raphanus sativum (radish)Allium cepa (onion) Psidium quava (guava) Cosmos bipinnaws (cosmos) Dahlia pinnata (dahlia) Bee non-preferred pollensHe/ianthus annuus (sunflower)

Chemical Composition and Amounts of Mineral Elements in Honeybee-Collected Pollen in Relation to Botanical Origin

“…The values of lipids in bee-pollen could be arranged in an ascending order: date palm < alfalfa < rape < sunflower < summer squash, with significant (p<0.01) differences among them. The high lipid levels in summer squash, and sunflower pollen were confirmed by Singh et al (1999) for rape and sunflower, and Nicolson and Human (2013) for sunflower. The content of lipids found in our studies ranged from 1.82 to 5.38% DM.…”

Nutritive value of 15 single pollens and pollen mixes tested on larvae produced by bumblebee workers (Bombus terrestris, Hymenoptera: Apidae)

“…Pure Helianthus fed to honeybees reduced adult longevity (Schmidt et al, 1995) and resulted in a low development of hypopharyngeal glands of new workers (Pernal and Currie, 2000). Moreover Singh et al (1999) found antifeedant compounds in Helianthus lipids.…”

Composição físico-química de amostras de pólen coletado por abelhas Africanizadas Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera:Apidae) em Piracicaba, Estado de São Paulo

“…toria, 19,4% para Cosmos bipinnatus, 17,8% para Raphanus sativum, 11,9% para Helianthus annuus e 11,6% para Petunia hybrida (SINGH et al,1999).…”