FEEDING PREFERENCE OF INDIAN HONEYBEE Apis cerana indica F. ON DIFFERENT POLLEN SUBSTITUTE DIETS

M. KISHAN TEJ¹*, M.R. SRINIVASAN², M. MUTHUKUMAR³, R. SURESH KUMAR^4
1Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu
²Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu
³Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu
⁴Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu
* Corresponding Author : tej.kishan4@gmail.com

Received : 29-09-2016     Accepted : 08-10-2016     Published : 01-11-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 53       Pages : 2795 - 2799
Int J Agr Sci 8.53 (2016):2795-2799

Keywords : Pollen substitute, Diet, Apis cerana indica and Parched redgram flour, Artificial feeding
Academic Editor : Kiran Kijai
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors acknowledge Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu
Author Contribution : None declared

- The study was carried out in Department of Agricultural Entomology Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2014-15 to find out the feeding preference of Indian Honey bee (Apis cerana indica) on different pollen substitute (PS) diets, which resemble natural pollen in nutritional values. For preparing pollen substitute diets locally available nutritional rich ingredients was selected such as pulses powder along with skimmed milk powder, Honey, Glucose and powdered sugar. It was found that red gram based diet was more alluring to the honey bees compared to other formulations, as the colonies fed with Parched red gram flour (PRGF) based PS recorded the lowest number of days to consume the diet with a mean of 5.2 days followed by Parched bengal gram flour (PBGF) based diet (5.9 days) Parched horse gram flour (PHGF) based diet took longest time (7.3 days). In the case of number of bees feeding on each diet PRGF based diet was consumed rapidly compared to other diets with a mean of 41.5 bees per day followed by Parched black gram flour (PBGF) based and PBeGF based PS with a mean of 38.3 and 35.8 bees per day respectively. Honey bees preferred the PS diets provided on 1.5 mm nylon compared to butter. Sugar feeding can also be given in dearth periods along with PS diets.