Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
www.sciencedaily.com
Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
6 comments
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That's awesome! And the paper is open access :)
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Beekeepers provide colonies with pollen substitutes, but these feeds do not sustain brood production because they lack essential sterols found in pollen.
So they were being starved by the bee farmers. Got it.
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Whilst these initial results are promising, further large-scale field trials are needed to assess long-term impacts on colony health and pollination efficacy. Potentially, the supplement could be available to farmers within two years.
This new technology could also be used to develop dietary supplements for other pollinators or farmed insects, opening new avenues for sustainable agriculture.
6 comments
TL;DR: Bees need balanced nutrition and we figured out how to make healthy bee food.
okay, next question: why aren't they getting those sterols?
follow up: are wild, native bees also affected, or is it just the European honeybees?
A healthy hive would get proper nutrients. Usually you only need to feed a hive pollen when it is a weaker hive that doesn't have the population needed to collect pollen. This boosts brood production and the hive can recover faster.
Another issue is commercial beekeeping. Hundreds of hives could be working a few square miles while in nature it would be just a few. Not enough resources for that many hives so weaker hives struggle. This is a human solution for a human problem.