Abstract: The quality of the supplemental diet fed to honeybee colonies during dearth period influences the development and strength of the colony. The experiment was performed at Gedo sub site of Holeta Bee Research Center to examine the consumption rate and the effect of different pulses as pollen supplement for honeybee colonies on brood area, pollen and nectar storage, colony population growth as well as honey production. Selection of feed types was made based on information from home-made diets produced by locally beekeepers and preliminary screening of the flour. Honeybee colonies were provided with pollen supplement of soybean (Glycine max), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and Pea (Pisum sativum), whereas no pollen supplement was provided to the control group. Pollen supplemented fed consumption mean data showed that soybean feed was maximally consumed (284 gm) by honeybee colonies per day and followed by chickpea (252.27 gm) and pea (223.63 gm). The result indicated that the highest brood area (300.66 cm2/colony), pollen area (219.93 cm2/colony), nectar area (258.96 cm2/colony), number of frames covered with bees (9.4 per colony) as well as honey yield (11.5 kg per colony) was observed in honey bee colonies fed with soybean flour, while the least amount of brood, pollen, and nectar area, number of frames covered with bees and honey yield was detected in the control group. The results clearly demonstrated that supplementary feeding increased honeybee population for the survival of dearth period and better colony performance. Thus, the author recommend the commercial production and large scale utilization of soybean diet for the sustained reproduction and buildup of honeybee colonies during floral dearth period.Abstract: The quality of the supplemental diet fed to honeybee colonies during dearth period influences the development and strength of the colony. The experiment was performed at Gedo sub site of Holeta Bee Research Center to examine the consumption rate and the effect of different pulses as pollen supplement for honeybee colonies on brood area, pollen and ...Show More
