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Simple Summary: The nutritional status of honey bee colonies is a crucial point for honey bee colony health, as inadequate nectar and pollen flow can lead to colony development issues, increased pathogen proliferation, and reduced colony activity and strength. Beekeepers are thus encouraged to use food supplements or substitutes to correct nutritional imbalances. With a growing market driven by minimal regulation and beekeeper demand, the market offers numerous bee food supplements with varying and sometimes undefined compositions, claiming benefits such as brood stimulation, energy supplementation, and disease prevention. Through the analysis of a short set of physico-chemical characteristics, it was possible to find differences between the values found and the ones displayed on the label, demonstrating the need for regulation of the quality of these products. The nutritional status of a honey bee colony is recognized as a key factor in ensuring a healthy hive. A deficient flow of nectar and pollen in the honey bee colony immediately affects its development, making room for pathogen proliferation and, consequently, for a reduction in the activities and strength of the colony. It is, therefore, urgent for the beekeepers to use more food supplements and/or substitutes in apiary management, allowing them to address colony nutritional imbalances according to the beekeeper's desired results. In this context, the commercial market for beekeeping products is growing rapidly due to low regulation of animal food products and the beekeeper's willingness to guarantee healthy colonies. There are numerous products (bee food additives) currently available on the worldwide market, with a highly variable and sometimes even undefined composition, claiming a set of actions at the level of brood stimulation, energy supplementation, queen rearing support, reduction of Varroa reproduction levels, improvement of the intestinal microflora of bees, Nosema prevention, and improvement of the health of honey bee colonies infested by American foulbrood, among others. To address this issue, the members of the COLOSS (Honey Bee Research Association) NUTRITION Task Force are proposing, for the first time, action on honey bee feed control and monitoring. In our common study, we focused on candy board composition and quality parameters. For that, a selected number of commercial candy boards usually found in Europe were analyzed in terms of water and ash content, pH, acidity, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, sugars, C3-C4 sugar origin, and texture. Results revealed differences between the values found and the ones displayed on the label, demonstrating the need for regulation of the quality of these products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey bees play a crucial role in agricultural production. Farmers rely on commercial bee pollination to obtain optimal yields, and beekeepers on the income from pollination fees. However, commercial pollination confronts honey bees with pests and pathogens, pesticides, and low-quality food, which in many cases do not fulfill the minimal nutritional requirements of honey bees. In this work, we evaluated honey bee nutrition in avocado and blueberry plantations under organic and conventional management, by assessing the nutritional quality of pollen and bee bread based on their protein, fatty acid, and microbial content, and by analyzing honey bee health through the examination of abdominal fatty acid profiles and head protein content. Low protein content in honey bee hemolymph was evident under conventional management. Regardless of management, avocado pollen showed higher protein levels, which were translated into higher honey bee head protein levels being 60% higher in avocado under conventional management when compared to blueberry under the same management. However, higher protein levels in avocado pollen were also translated into lower amounts of fatty acids in bee bread and in honey bee fat. In particular, the total amount of fatty acids in bee bread from conventional management was 50% lower than that from organic management. Additionally, the saturated fatty acids in conventional blueberries were lower compared to that of organic blueberries. Crop system and bee bread microbial composition altered the plant-honey bee nutrition cascades transforming pollen to bee bread with increased amount of saturated, unsaturated, and total fatty acids. In conclusion, both crop species and crop systems determine honey bee nutrition through alterations in the pollen transformation, affecting protein and fatty acid assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In situations where natural pollen sources are insufficient, it becomes crucial to explore alternative proteins for honey bees. Utilizing mulberry leaf protein concentrate (LPC) emerges as a vital strategy to enhance the nutritional quality of dietary supplements for honey bees, thus mitigating the effects of limited pollen availability. Moreover, it acts as a dietary supplement that positively influences honey bee longevity and health. This study aims to evaluate the effects of incorporating mulberry LPC into honey bee nutritional supplements on maintaining bee health and prolonging their lifespan. Results: Mulberry LPC exhibited high protein content (28.60% ± 3.22%), dry matter (86.55% ± 4.56%), and low levels of fiber (3.16% ± 0.25%), ether extract (3.12% ± 0.25%), and ash (0.71% ± 0.10%), respectively. The essential amino acid composition derived from mulberry LPC revealed elevated values of leucine and lysine, which are necessary for honey bee development. Through a comprehensive investigation of mulberry LPC supplementation in pollen patty on honey bee physiology and life span, the treatment administering 2.5%-5.0% mulberry displayed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in acini sizes and prolonged the life span when compared to the control group fed solely with sucrose syrup. Conclusions: This finding is the first report highlighting the potential of mulberry LPC as a novel supplement feed for honey bees. Mulberry LPC demonstrated notable characteristics, including a high protein content. Furthermore, the essential amino acid composition of mulberry LPC showed elevated levels of leucine and lysine. Our results signify the beneficial impact of mulberry LPC in honey bee nutrition, suggesting its potential as a viable dietary intervention to improve honey bee health and life span. Further research in this domain holds promise for advancing beekeeping practices and ensuring the sustainability of honey bee populations.

The nutritional status of a honey bee colony is recognized as a key factor in ensuring a healthy hive. A deficient flow of nectar and pollen in the honey bee colony immediately affects its development, making room for pathogen proliferation and, consequently, for a reduction in the activities and strength of the colony. It is, therefore, urgent for the beekeepers to use more food supplements and/or substitutes in apiary management, allowing them to address colony nutritional imbalances according to the beekeeper’s desired results. In this context, the commercial market for beekeeping products is growing rapidly due to low regulation of animal food products and the beekeeper’s willingness to guarantee healthy colonies. There are numerous products (bee food additives) currently available on the worldwide market, with a highly variable and sometimes even undefined composition, claiming a set of actions at the level of brood stimulation, energy supplementation, queen rearing support, reduction of Varroa reproduction levels, improvement of the intestinal microflora of bees, Nosema prevention, and improvement of the health of honey bee colonies infested by American foulbrood, among others. To address this issue, the members of the COLOSS (Honey Bee Research Association) NUTRITION Task Force are proposing, for the first time, action on honey bee feed control and monitoring. In our common study, we focused on candy board composition and quality parameters. For that, a selected number of commercial candy boards usually found in Europe were analyzed in terms of water and ash content, pH, acidity, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, sugars, C3-C4 sugar origin, and texture. Results revealed differences between the values found and the ones displayed on the label, demonstrating the need for regulation of the quality of these products.

Pollen is known to be the only source of proteins and fats for honey bees. Therefore, it is an important component of nutrition, essential for brood care and a good indicator for the availability of resources in a landscape. It is also known that a diverse diet is beneficial for bee health, also in relation to winter losses. In this work, an app is presented that allows to quantify the pollen from a pollen trap and to determine its colour diversity in an automatic way. The colour diversity is closely related to the actual plant diversity. This correlation allows conclusions to be drawn on the apicultural importance of a landscape and on biodiversity in general. In this way, the app provides beekeepers with important information about the nutritional condition of their colonies, while scientists can benefit from aggregated information about local biodiversity. The app is free of use and available as a web app on all devices.

In Africa there is a scarcity of information on how plant species that can provide forage for honey bees vary across differentially structured landscapes, and what are the implications of such variabilities on colony integrity. This research presents new insights into the diversity and richness of pollen collected by Apis mellifera scutellata, a subspecies of the Western honey bee native to sub-Saharan Africa, at six study sites of different degradation levels within a semi-arid landscape in Kenya. Ten colonies were established at each site and land cover characteristics were extracted using novel remote sensing methods. The sites differed by the proportions of natural vegetation, cropland, grassland and hedges within each site. Bee bread was collected five times, with three colonies in each of the six sites repeatedly sampled during the period from May 2017 to November 2018. Pollen identification and protein analysis within the study sites were thereafter conducted to establish the linkage between landscape degradation levels and abundance and diversity of pollen. Out of 124 plant species identified, Terminalia spp., Cleome spp. and Acacia spp. were identified as the most abundant species. Moreover, species richness and diversity were highest in the two sites located in moderately degraded landscapes. Pollen protein content showed statistically significant differences across season rather than geographical location. This study demonstrated that landscape degradation negatively affected the diversity and richness of pollen collected by honey bees. Consequently, this helps our understanding of native honey bees' forage resource usage and plant species preferences in landscapes with varying degrees of degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although poor nutrition is cited as one of the crucial factors in global pollinator decline, the requirements and role of several important nutrients (especially micronutrients) in honey bees are not well understood. Micronutrients, viz. phytosterols, play a physiologically vital role in insects as precursors of important molting hormones and building blocks of cellular membranes. There is a gap in comprehensive understanding of the impacts of dietary sterols on honey bee physiology. In the present study, we investigated the role of 24-methylenecholesterol—a key phytosterol—in honey bee nutritional physiology. Artificial diets with varying concentrations of 24-methylenecholesterol (0%, 0.1%. 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% dry diet weight) were formulated and fed to honey bees in a laboratory cage experiment. Survival, diet consumption, head protein content, and abdominal lipid contents were significantly higher in dietary sterol-supplemented bees. Our findings provide additional insights regarding the role of this important sterol in honey bee nutritional physiology. The insights gleaned from this study could also advance the understanding of sterol metabolism and regulation in other bee species that are dependent on pollen for sterols, and assist in formulation of a more complete artificial diet for honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Apidae). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colonies of Apis mellifera provided with natural forage show decreased pathogen loads and increased overwintering success when compared with colonies provisioned with supplemental protein diets. Despite the potential benefits of a pollen-based diet, protein supplements are commonly used in colonies throughout the spring and increasingly through the fall and winter as the cost of pollen is greater than that of supplements and concerns exist over the potential for pollen to vector viruses to bee colonies. In this study, we compare virus and Nosema burden, consumption and digestion, hemolymph protein and hypopharyngeal gland size in bees fed on pure pollen diets, purely supplemental protein diets, and diets containing 90% supplement and 10% pollen to examine whether the inclusion of small amounts of pollen mitigates the negative impacts of consuming protein supplements seen in preceding studies. We found that the diets had similar concentrations of total soluble protein; however, bees consumed and digested significantly more of the pollen diet than either PS alone or mixed with pollen. In colonies, honeybees consuming pollen had lower deformed wing virus (DWV) and Nosema titers than bees fed protein supplements. The addition of 10% pollen to the supplement significantly increased digestion and hypopharyngeal gland size and decreased levels of Nosema infection over colonies fed supplement alone. These results indicate that the addition of small amounts of pollen into protein supplements may help to mitigate the differences observed between protein supplement and pollen fed bees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Listy Cukrovarnicke a Reparske is the property of VUC Praha a.s. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Listy Cukrovarnicke a Reparske is the property of VUC Praha a.s. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Animal Production / Hayvansal Üretim is the property of Hayvansal Uretim (Journal of Animal Production) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Phytosterols are important micronutrients that are precursors of important molting hormones and help maintain cellular membrane integrity in insects including bees. Previous research has shown that 24-methylenecholesterol is a key phytosterol that enhances honey bee longevity and improves nurse bee physiology. Nurse bees have the ability to selectively transfer this sterol to developing larvae through brood food. This study examines the physiological impacts of 24-methylenecholesterol on nurse bees, by analyzing the protein profiles of nurse bee heads upon dietary sterol manipulation. Dietary experimental groups consisting of newly emerged honey bees were provided with varying concentrations of 24-methylenecholesterol for three weeks. At the end of the study, honey bees were collected and proteomic analysis was performed on honey bee heads. A total of 1715 proteins were identified across experimental groups. The mean relative abundances of nutritional marker proteins (viz. major royal jelly proteins 1, 4, 5, 7) were higher in experimental groups supplemented with higher dietary sterol concentrations, when compared with the control dietary group. The mean relative abundances of important enzymatic proteins (aminopeptidase and calcium-transporting ATPase) were higher in control groups, whereas mean relative abundances of oxysterol-binding protein and fatty acid-binding protein were higher in higher dietary sterol groups.

Poor nutrition is an important factor in global bee population declines. A significant gap in knowledge persists regarding the role of various nutrients (especially micronutrients) in honey bees. Sterols are essential micronutrients in insect diets and play a physiologically vital role as precursors of important molting hormones and building blocks of cellular membranes. Sterol requirements and metabolism in honey bees are poorly understood. Among all pollen sterols, 24-methylenecholesterol is considered the key phytosterol required by honey bees. Nurse bees assimilate this sterol from dietary sources and store it in their tissues as endogenous sterol, to be transferred to the growing larvae through brood food. This study examined the duration of replacement of such endogenous sterols in honey bees. The dietary 13C-labeled isotopomer of 24-methylenecholesterol added to artificial bee diet showed differential, progressive in vivo assimilation across various honey bee tissues. Significantly higher survival, diet consumption, head protein content and abdominal lipid content were observed in the dietary sterol-supplemented group than in the control group. These findings provide novel insights into phytosterol utilization and temporal pattern of endogenous 24-methylenecholesterol replacement in honey bees.

Amylase is one of three main enzymes involved in the breakdown and utilization of macromolecules. In honey bees (Apis mellifera), amylase was traditionally believed to originate only as secretion of the bee. However, other sources of amylase production, such as microbes in the guts of bees remained to be studied. In our research, we compared the differences in the amylase values in rape flower nectar and honey in the stomachs of bees. Then, culture-dependent and culture-independent (16sDNA) methods were used to isolate and identify bacteria in rape flower nectar and bee stomach honey. The dominant bacteria were added to nectar, and the amylase values of nectar with added gut microbes and nectar without added microbes were compared. Our findings indicate that the amylase value was significantly increased, which correlates with the increase in number of bacteria that occurred from nectar to honey in the stomachs of bees. The dominant bacteria in honey bee stomachs were mainly Bacillus during the flowering season of rape. Experiments confirmed that the amylase levels in nectar increased significantly when bacteria were added. These results indicate that bacteria in the foregut of bees help in the processing floral nectar into honey.

Honey bee queens mate with multiple males resulting in high intracolonial genetic diversity among nestmates; a reproductive strategy known as extreme polyandry. Several studies have demonstrated the adaptive significance of extreme polyandry for overall colony performance and colony growth. Colonies that are more genetically diverse collect more pollen than colonies with less diversity. However, the effects of intracolonial genetic diversity on worker nutritional status are unknown. We created colonies headed by queens instrumentally inseminated with sperm from either 1 or 20 drones, then compared protein consumption, digestion, and uptake among nestmates. We found that nurse bees from colonies with multiple-drone-inseminated (MDI) queens consumed more pollen, had lower amounts of midgut tissue protease, and invested more protein into larvae than nurse bees from single-drone-inseminated (SDI) queens. Pollen foragers from MDI colonies had significantly higher hemolymph protein concentration than pollen foragers from SDI colonies. Differences in hemolymph protein concentration between nurses and pollen foragers were significantly smaller among MDI colonies than among SDI colonies. While intracolonial genetic diversity is correlated with increased foraging, our results suggest that this relationship may be driven in part by the elevated resource demands of nurse bees in genetically diverse colonies that consume and distribute more protein in response to the social context within the hive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal nutrition is crucial for honey bee colony growth and robust immune systems. Honey bee nutrition is complex and depends on the floral composition of the landscape. Foraging behavior of honey bees depends on both colony environment and external environment. There are significant gaps in knowledge regarding honey bee nutrition, and hence no optimal diet is available for honey bees, as there is for other livestock. In this review, we discuss (1) foraging behavior of honey bees, (2) nutritional needs, (3) nutritional supplements used by beekeepers, (4) probiotics, and (5) supplemental forage and efforts integrating floral diversity into cropping systems., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors have no conflicts of interest and no disclosures to make., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Simple Summary: Phytosterols are important micronutrients that are essential for production of insect molting hormones and cellular membrane integrity. Past research has shown that the key phytosterol that honey bees need is 24-methylenecholesterol. This phytosterol improves honey bee longevity and sustains brood production. Hence, it is important to understand how 24-methylenecholesterol can shape honey bee physiology by altering protein profiles of vital honey bee tissues. Nurse bees secrete glandular secretions (brood food) using hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands in their head regions. Further, it has been shown that this sterol is selectively accumulated in nurse bee heads. Thus, it is imperative to examine the protein profiles of nurse bee heads, in response to dietary 24-methylenecholesterol manipulation. In this study, groups of newly emerged nurse bees were fed with varying concentrations of dietary 24-methylenecholesterol, while the control groups received no sterol. We found that dietary sterol manipulation altered the protein profiles in nurse bee heads, with important nutritional marker proteins being upregulated in high dietary sterol groups. The important proteins identified in this study may serve as vital markers of nutritional stress related to sterols in honey bees, paving the way for future research on bee nutrition. Phytosterols are important micronutrients that are precursors of important molting hormones and help maintain cellular membrane integrity in insects including bees. Previous research has shown that 24-methylenecholesterol is a key phytosterol that enhances honey bee longevity and improves nurse bee physiology. Nurse bees have the ability to selectively transfer this sterol to developing larvae through brood food. This study examines the physiological impacts of 24-methylenecholesterol on nurse bees, by analyzing the protein profiles of nurse bee heads upon dietary sterol manipulation. Dietary experimental groups consisting of newly emerged honey bees were provided with varying concentrations of 24-methylenecholesterol for three weeks. At the end of the study, honey bees were collected and proteomic analysis was performed on honey bee heads. A total of 1715 proteins were identified across experimental groups. The mean relative abundances of nutritional marker proteins (viz. major royal jelly proteins 1, 4, 5, 7) were higher in experimental groups supplemented with higher dietary sterol concentrations, when compared with the control dietary group. The mean relative abundances of important enzymatic proteins (aminopeptidase and calcium-transporting ATPase) were higher in control groups, whereas mean relative abundances of oxysterol-binding protein and fatty acid-binding protein were higher in higher dietary sterol groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor nutrition is an important factor in global bee population declines. A significant gap in knowledge persists regarding the role of various nutrients (especially micronutrients) in honey bees. Sterols are essential micronutrients in insect diets and play a physiologically vital role as precursors of important molting hormones and building blocks of cellular membranes. Sterol requirements and metabolism in honey bees are poorly understood. Among all pollen sterols, 24-methylenecholesterol is considered the key phytosterol required by honey bees. Nurse bees assimilate this sterol from dietary sources and store it in their tissues as endogenous sterol, to be transferred to the growing larvae through brood food. This study examined the duration of replacement of such endogenous sterols in honey bees. The dietary 13C-labeled isotopomer of 24-methylenecholesterol added to artificial bee diet showed differential, progressive in vivo assimilation across various honey bee tissues. Significantly higher survival, diet consumption, head protein content and abdominal lipid content were observed in the dietary sterol-supplemented group than in the control group. These findings provide novel insights into phytosterol utilization and temporal pattern of endogenous 24-methylenecholesterol replacement in honey bees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]