Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory
Protein-supplemented artificial diets are widely used by beekeepers during winter and whenever food availability is low, yet no data are available concerning their effects on bees’ health. In this work, the effects of two commercial diets enriched with 1.7% and 7.7% protein concentration on feed int...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/8/968 |
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| author | Simona Sagona Francesca Coppola Antonio Nanetti Elena Tafi Lionella Palego Laura Betti Gino Giannaccini Antonio Felicioli |
| author_facet | Simona Sagona Francesca Coppola Antonio Nanetti Elena Tafi Lionella Palego Laura Betti Gino Giannaccini Antonio Felicioli |
| author_sort | Simona Sagona |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Protein-supplemented artificial diets are widely used by beekeepers during winter and whenever food availability is low, yet no data are available concerning their effects on bees’ health. In this work, the effects of two commercial diets enriched with 1.7% and 7.7% protein concentration on feed intake, survival rate, glucose oxidase, phenoloxidase and glutathione S-transferase in newly emerged and forager bees were tested. Administration of a 7.7% protein-enriched diet significantly reduced the lifespan of both newly emerged and forager bees, while only in foragers a significantly higher feed intake was recorded. In newly emerged bees, administration of a high-protein-enriched diet stimulated glucose oxidase production at the 10th day of feeding, determined a reduction of phenoloxidase and did not affect glutathione S-transferase activity. In forager bees, a high level of protein inclusion did not determine any significant variation in either glucose oxidase, phenoloxidase or glutathione S-transferase activity. Therefore, the results obtained in this investigation suggest that administration of commercial protein diets negatively affect honey bee health, determining an increase in mortality. Further investigations on the effect of concentration and quality of proteins are desirable to provide beekeepers with scientific evidence on protein feeding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:16:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d2c93641f76e4438a8bcddecf28b3e1e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:16:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-d2c93641f76e4438a8bcddecf28b3e1e2023-12-01T00:30:15ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152022-04-0112896810.3390/ani12080968Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in LaboratorySimona Sagona0Francesca Coppola1Antonio Nanetti2Elena Tafi3Lionella Palego4Laura Betti5Gino Giannaccini6Antonio Felicioli7Department of Veterinary Sciences, Pisa University, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, Pisa University, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyCREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Saliceto 80, 40128 Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, Pisa University, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Via Savi 10, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Pharmacy, Pisa University, Via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Pharmacy, Pisa University, Via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, Pisa University, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyProtein-supplemented artificial diets are widely used by beekeepers during winter and whenever food availability is low, yet no data are available concerning their effects on bees’ health. In this work, the effects of two commercial diets enriched with 1.7% and 7.7% protein concentration on feed intake, survival rate, glucose oxidase, phenoloxidase and glutathione S-transferase in newly emerged and forager bees were tested. Administration of a 7.7% protein-enriched diet significantly reduced the lifespan of both newly emerged and forager bees, while only in foragers a significantly higher feed intake was recorded. In newly emerged bees, administration of a high-protein-enriched diet stimulated glucose oxidase production at the 10th day of feeding, determined a reduction of phenoloxidase and did not affect glutathione S-transferase activity. In forager bees, a high level of protein inclusion did not determine any significant variation in either glucose oxidase, phenoloxidase or glutathione S-transferase activity. Therefore, the results obtained in this investigation suggest that administration of commercial protein diets negatively affect honey bee health, determining an increase in mortality. Further investigations on the effect of concentration and quality of proteins are desirable to provide beekeepers with scientific evidence on protein feeding.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/8/968honey beesimmune systemprotein dietsurvivalfeed intakehealth |
| spellingShingle | Simona Sagona Francesca Coppola Antonio Nanetti Elena Tafi Lionella Palego Laura Betti Gino Giannaccini Antonio Felicioli Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory Animals honey bees immune system protein diet survival feed intake health |
| title | Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory |
| title_full | Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory |
| title_short | Effects of Two Commercial Protein Diets on the Health of Two Imago Ages of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. Reared in Laboratory |
| title_sort | effects of two commercial protein diets on the health of two imago ages of i apis mellifera i l reared in laboratory |
| topic | honey bees immune system protein diet survival feed intake health |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/8/968 |
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