Royal jelly production, amount of royal jelly thiamine and hypopharyngeal glands development in Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera Meda) colonies fed with different levels of thiamine

The experiment was carried out under natural condition to assess potential impacts of thiamine nutrition on development of hypopharyngeal glands (HPGs), amount of royal jelly thiamine and jelly production in honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera M.). This trial was carried out at Honey Bee Department of Animal Science Research Institute of Iran. Twenty honey bee colonies, divided into 5 experimental groups, were used in the study. Control groups were fed sugar syrup (1:1). The experimental colonies were fed in the same manner but with syrup supplemented with different levels of thiamine (100, 200, 300 and 400 ppm). The experiment was conducted for 60 days. To investigate the development of HPGs, length and width of ten acini for each worker bee at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 days were measured using a stereo-microscope. A single extraction process was employed and thiamine was determined by HPLC. The result showed that the acinal area of HPGs was different under feeding with difference diets. Colonies fed with high level thiamine had a larger acini surface (P<0.05). Thiamine content of royal jelly samples were analyzed by HPLC showed that the amount of royal Jelly thiamine in colonies fed 400 ppm B1 (2.7 mg/100 g) was more than any other colony (P<0.05). Thiamine content of royal jelly in the control group (0.67 mg/100 g) had the lowest amount (P<0.05). In general it can be said that the use of different levels of thiamine in spring season leads to improved performance in Iranian honeybee colonies.