Investigation of yi̇eld and some quality features of royal jelly harvested from honey bee colonies fed with food substitutes

Royal jelly (RJ) has been used as an apitherapy, health food, and cosmetic in many countries. Scientists and beekeepers try to improve techniques to produce higher quality and quantity royal jelly from honey bee colonies.In this study, the effect of honey and pollen substitution feeding on the quantity of RJ production was explored using ANOVA statistical test. Also, features of the 10- hydroxy-2-deconoic acid (10-HDA), protein and pH of the royal jelly was analyzed for understanding differences among the non-feeding pollen and honey substitution feeding groups. The average RJ yield per queen cup for non-feeding colonies (Group A) was 420 mg, while the content of 10-HAD, protein and pH were 2.40%, 14.06% and 4.20%, respectively. For the colonies fed with sugar syrup (Group B), these values were 470 mg, 2.51%, 12.88%, 4.25 and for the colonies fed with sugar syrup + pollen substitute (Group C) 530 mg, 4.05%, 13.13% and 4.18. The statistical test and contents analysis highlighted the impact of substitution feeding on average yield amounts and 10-HDA. According to the results of the research, average RJ amounts in queen cell cup was significantly different in three honey bee colonies feeding groups (p<0.05). Colonies fed with sugar syrup +pollen substitute (Group C) colonies were filled the queen cell cups more amount of RJ than non-feeding (Group A) and fed with sugar syrup (Group B) colonies were filled RJ in the queen cell cups with significantly different. In the study, The colony fed with the sugar syrup +pollen substitute showed almost double the amount of 10-HDA value in RJ than non-feeding and fed with sugar syrup colonies. Protein and pH values shows no differences among the groups.