PLANNED PAIRWISE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SEA BUCKTHORN-BASED POLLEN AND NECTAR SUBSTITUTE FORMULATIONS ON DIET CONSUMPTION OF WESTERN HONEYBEE (APIS MELLIFERA)

Pollen and nectar is essential for honey bee colonies, and their scarcity can lead to starvation and contribute to colony collapse disorder (CCD).In tropical and subtropical regions, harsh summers can significantly weaken bee populations due to limited forage.A well-formulated artificial diet can enhance nutritional balance and colony health.In India, many beekeepers either don't provide external food or only use sugar syrup for their colonies.Researchers have attempted to create alternative foods for bees during food shortages, but no standard formulation is widely accepted.Addressing the seasonal pollen shortages and improving beekeeping efficiency requires effective substitutes.This study focuses on evaluating the quality of sea buckthorn fruit-based pollen and nectar substitutes by analyzing their physicochemical properties and diet consumption.Hence the present research aims to develop sea buckthorn fruit-based pollen and nectar substitutes to improve diet consumption during the dearth period.The proximate content of particle size distribution, carbohydrates, crude protein, and crude fat for pollen formulation 1 (P 1 ) was as follows: particle size distribution of 605.3 0.02 nm, carbohydrates at 79.4 4.84%, crude protein at 4.02 0.23%, and crude fat at 5.7 0.45%.In comparison, pollen formulation 2 (P 2 ) had a particle size distribution of 508.9 0.02 nm, carbohydrates at 79.9 4.39%, crude protein at 1.35 0.08%, and crude fat at 6.3 0.57%.The viscosity, osmolarity, total soluble solids, and total sugars of sea buckthorn fruit-based nectar formulation 1 (N 1 ) were measured at 0.00110.0001Pa.s and 64328.94mmol/L, while nectar formulation 2 (N2) had 0.000890.00005Pa.s viscosity and 77364.33mmol/L osmolarity.The evaluation of diet consumption through planned pairwise comparisons showed that both nectar formulation 1 (N1) and nectar formulation 2 (N2) significantly influenced diet consumption in Apis mellifera.Among the formulated diets containing ingredients from pollen formulation 2, the highest diet consumption was recorded for nectar formulation 2 (N2).The results indicate that the sea buckthorn-based pollen and nectar formulations, specifically pollen formulation 2 (P2) and nectar formulation 1 (N1), demonstrated promising outcomes in diet consumption.