Entomology, Department of
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2005
Abstract
We applied measured amounts of powdered sugar directly to honey bee brood combs containing eggs and larvae of known age groups. 24 h later, we compared powdered sugar-treated brood with similarly aged cohorts of immature bees that did not receive powdered sugar. Low and high doses of powdered sugar (0.3 and 0.6 g per 151.5 ± 1.0 cells, respectively) caused significant egg removal of 62.2 ± 5.1% and 86.1 ± 5.1%, respectively, when compared to eggs that received no powdered sugar (t = 16.91; df = 29; P = 0.0001). Powdered sugar had no effect on 5-day-old honey bee larvae (t = 0.74; df = 29; P = 0.4668), but caused a significant percentage of 8-day-old larvae (18.5 ± 4.5%) to be removed when applied at the high dose (t = 4.10; df = 29; P = 0.0003).
Comments
Published in Journal of Apicultural Research 44:1(2005), pp. 32-34. Copyright 2005 International Bee Research Association.