Effects of Feeding, Age of the Larvae, and Queenlessness on the Production of Royal Jelly

Abstract

The effects of feeding, the age of the larvae and queenlessness on the acceptance rates and royal jelly production were studied. The average acceptance rates were 65.0±0.82% in queenright cell builders and 87.1±1.08% in queenless cell builders. Feeding colonies with pollen substitute increased the acceptance rates significantly (P<0.01) in queenless cell builders but not in queenright cell builders (P>0.05). The age of the larvae was also important on the acceptance of the cells. The acceptance rates of 1 or 2 days old larvae were higher than that of 3 days old larvae in both queenless and queenright colonies.

In queenright cell builders the average royal jelly yields were 153.7±4.27 mg per cell when they were fed with sugar syrup and 185.3±5.68 mg when pollen substitute was given besides sucrose syrup. In the queenless cell builders the average yields were 189.3±9.11 mg in the sugar syrup fed and 225.6±14.52 mg in the pollen substitute fed colonies.

In general royal jelly yield was much higher in queenless cell builders than that of queenright. Feeding colonies with pollen substitutes in addition to sucrose syrup increased the royal jelly yield by 36% in queenright colonies and 40% in queenless colonies. The best result were obtained by grafting one day old larvae in queenless cell builders that were fed with pollen substitute and sucrose syrup.