CORRELATIVE ANALYSES OF BROOD RATIO AND ROYAL JELLY PRODUCTION

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1 CORRELATIVE ANALYSES OF BROOD RATIO AND ROYAL JELLY PRODUCTION Dr. Li Jianke Zhengzhou College of Animal Husbandry Zhengzhou Henan China Tel: An experiment was conducted over 5 nectar period during the locust (Robinia psudoacacia) and chaste tree (Vitex negundo var.heterophylla) nectar flows in 2 years with 5 replications to determine the relationship between the ratio of population to brood (RPB) and royal jelly production. In each of 5 trials a significant relationship was found between RPB and royal jelly production. The coefficients of correlation for 5 replications were 0.87,0.80,0.86,0.87,and 0.67 respectively. There were significant or very significant differences (p<0.05,or p<0.01), indicating increased royal jelly production with increased brood ratio. Key words honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica); ratio of population to brood; royal jelly; production; correlation. Introduction China is the biggest royal jelly production country and its productivity ranks the first place in the world. Many apiarists had carried out systematic researches on increasing its production. Since the high royal jelly production line has bred successfully in the early 90s,an average colony could collect 7kg royal jelly in a production season [1]. Nowadays, royal jelly becomes one of the most hive-products in beekeeping and its production affected by such factors as secreting characteristics of the variety of bee used, presence nectar and pollen, weather conditions during the nectar flow, tolls like queen cell cup and transfer tool, the length of royal jelly collecting period, technology of royal jelly production, colony s population and the ratio of population to brood (RPB) [3][4]. Among these factors, adjustment of the RPB can affect royal jelly productivity greatly and is one of the key measures in managing honeybee colonies. The RPB, the bees weight (kg) to brood (full frame), was proposed to study the relationship between royal jelly production and colony composition of bees and brood in the colony. Materials and Method The colonies (Aips mellifera ligustica) selected from experimental apiary Zhengzhou College of Animal Husbandry. The first experiment started from April 15 th to August 15 th 1999 and the repetitive one started from April 20 th to July 30 th, From April 15 th to June 21 st 1999, the experiment conducted in acacia (Robina Psudocacia) blooming period in Zhengzhou, then migrated to Shaolin Temple, Dengfeng city from June 22 nd to August 3 rd 1999 to gather honey of chaste tree (Vitex neaundo var heterophylla).and at last the colony transferred to Sanmenxia city to dovetail sunflower blooming from August 3 rd to 15 th,1999. In the year of 2000, the colony located in our campus( Zhengzhou Capital of Henan province) to collect acacia honey from April 10 th to June 19 th. Proceedings of the 37 th International Apicultural Congress, 28 October 1 November 2001, Durban, South Africa APIMONDIA 2001 To be referenced as: Proc. 37 th Int. Apic. Congr., 28 Oct 1 Nov 2001, Durban, South Africa ISBN: Produced by: Document Transformation Technologies Organised by: Conference Planners

2 and from June 20 th to July 31 st the colonies migrated to Shaolin Temple, Dengfeng city to gather the honey of chaste tree. Every year in our district, all the colonies have built up with dense population in the later March, then royal jelly collection had begun. The colonies were evaluated with their population (full frame) and brood (full frame) before royal jelly collection once a time. And the total amounts of brood were measured with 5 5 cm 2 grid counting frames. There are 6800 worker cells in a full frame. The weight of worker bees = population(full frame) 0.35(kg/full frame). RPB = worker bees weight (kg)/brood (full frame). Royal jelly production of per bee unit = a colony s royal jelly production in a batch/the weight of worker bees. RPB and royal jelly production of per bee unit were regarded as a group of variables to calculate the coefficient of correlation and then test its difference. Results During the acacia nectar flowing, from April 15 to June 21 st 1999 in Zhengzhou, 15 colonies (group 1) were randomly chosen with different population to collect royal jelly. After several batches of collecting and when royal jelly yield of every colony in stable condition, royal jelly production of each colony were weighed with electrical scale. Through an analysis of regression coefficient, a positive and strongly correlation between RPB and royal jelly production of per bee unit, the coefficient of correlation between them is 0.87 (Fig 1), and its difference test was very significant (p<0.01). Eleven (group 2) and nineteen (group 3) colonies were also selected on random with the same method as above during the chaste tree (Vitex neaundo var heterophylla) from June 22 nd to August 3 rd and sun- flower blooming from August 3 rd to 15 th 1999 respectively. The results indicated in these two replications that there was positively and strongly correlation between RPB and royal jelly production of per bee unit, the coefficient of correlation between them is 0.80 and 0.86 respectively, and both difference test were very significant (p<0.01)( Fig 1). To identify the preciseness and reliability of the experiments, the same experiments, with 15 (group 4) and 11 colonies (group 5), were carried out with two replications during the acacia (Robina Psudocacia) and chaste tree (Vitex neaundo var heterophylla) nectar flowing period in The results also showed a positive and strongly correlation between RPB and royal jelly production of per bee unit, both of the coefficient of correlation between them is 0.87 and 0.67 respectively, and two difference test were very significant (p<0.01) and significant respectively. Conclusion The correlation between RPB and royal jelly production was highly significant. The difference of the coefficients of correlation for 5 replications was significant or highly significant (p<0.05,or p<0.01).

3 Group1 Group2 Group3 Group4 Group Figure 1 Correlation between RPB and royal jelly production Discussion The theory of the ratio of population to brood (RPB) In a honeybee colony with no swarming tendency and a normal balanced population, the RPB is an important factor that may affect its productivity. In these experiments the correlations between RPB and royal jelly production were positive and highly significant. Explanation of RPB theory A relative large value of RPB indicates that the adult bee population is predominant to that of brood, which means that more workers can engage in foraging for nectar rather than nursing brood. Since the worker bees outnumber the brood in the colony, this results in a better forging for nectar and a higher royal jelly output [2]. On the other hand, a small RPB value means that more brood is present in the hive. Worker bees have a stronger inclination to tend the brood. In this term the worker bees have no swarming trend, so the desire of secreting royal jelly to queen cell has decreased sharply. This led to a decline on royal jelly production. This theory is feasible and applicable only under certain conditions. The royal jelly secreted by a given amount of workers is not unlimited. Under special conditions such as swarming, disease and mites which harm the colony, the RPB will not be positively related to royal jelly production even when there is a large percentage of larvae and young bees. Practical significance of the RPB theory for beekeeping Royal jelly is one of the most products in apiculture. Increasing its production is a permanent pursuing goal of all beekeepers in the world. That the relation between RPB and royal jelly yield is positive revealed in these experiments giving us some guidance in production. In beekeeping practice certain measures must be taken to improve the RPB during nectar flows, so that royal jelly will be increased. When the RPB was less than 0.3, there was an overabundance of brood being nursed in the colony and little royal jelly was produced. When the RPB was in the range of , some royal jelly can be produced. When , production was high. When more than 0.9, production was the highest.

4 A stronger and healthy colony is the prerequisite condition for a high royal jelly output. Therefore beekeepers should stimulate the queens to lay at their best through all the season evenly. As we know royal jelly was secreted from the younger workers (6 12 days old). Only in this way can the potential productivity be fully exploited to obtain maximum benefits. References 1 Li Jianke. Technology for royal jelly production. American Bee Journal, 2000,140(6), Van-Toor-RF; Littlejohn-RP. Evaluation of hive management techniques in production of royal jelly by honeybees(apis mellifera) in New Zealand. Journal-of-Apicultural-Research. 1994, 33: 3, ; Bb. 3 Chang,-Chia-Pao; Hsieh,-Feng-Kuo. Studies on factors influencing royal jelly production in the honeybee. CHIN.-J.-ENTOMOL.-ZHONGHUA-KUNCHONG vol. 11, no. 2, pp Durmus-I; Guler-A. Effects of different colony population sizes, queen cup types and harvest times on royal jelly production in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Ondokuz-Mayis-Universitesi, -Ziraat-Fakultesi-Dergisi. 1999, 14: 1, ; 9 ref.

5 CORRELATIVE ANALYSES OF BROOD RATIO AND ROYAL JELLY PRODUCTION Dr. Li Jianke Zhengzhou College of Animal Husbandry Zhengzhou Henan China Tel: , Dr. Li Jianke, 39, male, has participated in teaching and research of beekeeping for more than 16 years. The doctoral degree in beekeeping was granted by Zhejiang University(key university in China). He had received 2 rewards in bees scientific achievements. A lot of research was done in increasing royal jelly production and breeding high quality of queen in royal jelly production. He possessed the best high royal jelly queen and production technology in the world. His paper about technology of royal jelly production had printed on ABJ, German Beekeeping and French Beekeeping. In 1998 he was invited to France giving a lecture to French beekeepers.

Honey Bees QUB Green Champions 9 th April

Honey Bees QUB Green Champions 9 th April 2014 http://www.qub.ac.uk/staff/area/bees/ http://belfastbees.wordpress.com/ Contents The Beekeeping Year Inside the hive Outside the hive Swarming Discussion