Comparative honey production and hoarding capacity of two caged native honey bee subspecies

Kabli, Nabila; Herda, Farid

Recherche Agronomique
Volume 21, Numéro 1, Pages 25-34
2023-03-27

Comparative Honey Production And Hoarding Capacity Of Two Caged Native Honey Bee Subspecies

Authors : Kabli Nabila . Herda Farid .

Abstract

The study aims the comparison of the hoarding and production capacities of two local honeybees subspecies; Apis mellifera intermissa (AMI) and Apis mellifera sahariensis (AMS). The experiment was carried out in laboratory between april-may 2021. One capped brood frame of each breed was incubated at 34-35°C and at 70% RH. Emerging workers were transferred within 24 hours in a cage endowed with two gravity feeders of sucrose solution (50% w/w), water, pollen paste and a piece of comb of known dimension and weight. Cages were maintained in 35°C incubator at 50% RH. Consumption of sucrose solution was recorded daily and the final honey storage estimated by gravimetric analysis. Results indicate that the onset of honey deposition in the wax cells started after 10 and 16 days for AMI and AMS respectively. AMS consumed more syrup than AMI with 32.12±3.34ml against 28.44±2.35ml. During a period of 14 days, AMS stored 16.20±1.88g of honey, averaging 22 mg/bee/day. Whereas AMI stored during a period of 20 days, 14.27±1.44g of honey, with an average of 14.2 mg/bee/day. The results indicate that under laboratory conditions; the production of honey was similar (F˂ 0.231) for both subspecies, whereas the hoarding capacity was more important for AMI than AMS (F ˂0.491). Remarkably, AMS showed (F ˂ 0.001) in every replication; a consistent delay in the onset of honey production but ended eventually in yielding the same honey quantity as AMI.