Enhancing honey and bee bread cells number from Indonesian honeybee Apis cerana by feeding modification

The availability of both nectar and pollen sources as the honeybee feed is required to improve the health anddevelopment of colonies. Honeybee beekeeping is usually a scarcity of both nectar and pollen sources especially in therain season that impacts on decreased productivity. The present study aimed to enhance honey and bee bread cell numberfrom Indonesian honeybee Apis cerana by feeding modification. Thirty colonies of honeybee A. cerana from thetraditional hive ( Glodok hive) moved to box hive were divided into 6 group s treatments were A1B0 (sugar palm sapwithout sugar palm pollen); A2B0 (coconut sap without sugar palm pollen); A3B0 (50 sugar palm sap + 50 coconutsap without sugar palm pollen); A1B1 (sugar palm sap + sugar palm pollen); A2B1 (coconut sap + sugar palm pollen);and A3B1 (50 coconut sap + 50 sugar palm sap + sugar palm pollen). The results showed that 5 days after movingfrom Glodok hive to the box hive was the best time to open the queen cage was characterized by the high in foragersentrance hive, new combs length, and low absconding level of A. cerana. In addition, the feeding modification usingsugar palm sap, coconut sap, sugar palm pollen, and their combination significantly affected the sap amount that can becollected by foragers, honey and bee bread cells number of A. cerana (p<0.01). The combination of coconut sap withsugar palm pollen was higher in sap can be taken by foragers, honey and bee bread cells than the other treatments. © 2021 Fundacion CIPAV. All rights reserved.