The Effects of L-methionine and L-lysine supplementation on population growth, Queen egg laying, brood rearing and honey production in Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera Meda)

The aim of the present study was to characterize the effects of L-methionine and L-lysine supplementation on population growth, honey bee (Apis mellifera Meda) Queen egg laying, brood rearing and honey production. This study started in 17 May to 1 July continued for 45 days in Ardabil province. For this experiment, 48 hives was chosen and colonies equalized for environment condition, population, honey and pollen store and same sister queens. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 12 replicates. The experimental treatments were: 1) control group (sugar syrup without amino acid supplementation) and treatments 2, 3 and 4 were fed with sugar syrup with Methionine, Lysine and Lysine and Methionine mix, respectively. The results showed that, in first and second periods, highest population was observed in Met/Lys treatment (P > 0.05). In fourth and mean of periods, the highest populations of colonies were belonging to the Met/Lys group (12.6 and 9.42 frame, respectively) and the lowest population (10.4 and 8.19 frame, respectively) was belonging to the control. In all of periods, Laying performance of queens was increased significantly by feeding Met/Lys compared to the control (P < 0. 05). For brood rearing and honey production, the best performance was obtained by colonies supplemented with Met/Lys treatment as well. In overall, our study confirms the positive effectiveness of feeding Met/Lys on population size, laying performance of queens and honey production.