Combined effects of edible tryptophan and ascorbic acid on some physiological, biological and behavioral parameters on workers of the Iranian honey bee, Apis mellifera meda L.

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Dep. of plant protection, university of zanjan

2 Dep. of Agronomy and plant breeding, karaj branch, Islamic azad univ.

3 Assisstant Professor Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture. Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch. Karaj. Iran.

Abstract

This study was considered the effect of bees feeding with mixture of tryptophan and ascorbic acid on some of physiological , behavioral, and productive parameters in Iranian honey bee. The treatments included tryptophan(12 mg/gr) , ascorbic acid (2 mg/gr) combined in 1:1 syrup ( sugar 1 kg per 1 liter of water), and for control treatment only used syrup. Bees were fed once a week.
The results showed that feeding bees with syrup contain tryptophan and ascorbic acid had significant effect on malondialdehyde(MDA), melatonin(MEL) and serotonin(SER) levels (P<0.01). The maximum levels of MDA, MEL and SER was observed in worker bees which they fed respectively with tryptophan (31.59± 0.72 pg/ml), combined tryptophan and ascorbic acid (178 ± 5.02 pg/ml) and ascorbic acid treatment (28.31± 5.02 pg/ml). The minimum levels was recorded respectively in ascorbic acid (17.59± 0.35 pg/ml), (74±3.06 pg/ml) and tryptophan(15.2±0.31 pg/ml) treatments. The weight of treated bees was affected statistically (P<0.001). The maximum weight was related to feeding bees with combine tryptophan and ascorbic acid syrup (111.26 ± 3.26 mg) and the minimum was in control group (90.34 ± 1.75 mg). The reaction of bees to the leather ball showed that dietary treatments had no effect on defensive behavior of worker bees. The defined diets had a significant effect on the peace of bees within the colony (P<0.05) and also on the offensive behavior of the bees (P<0.05). All treatments had significant effects on fecundity, larvae and pupae density and honey production in comparison with control (P<0.001).

Keywords


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