Feeding honeybees with pollen substitutes is essential for maintaining the health of honeybee colony, especially during dearth periods. This study aimed to evaluate the use of five pollen substitutes as winter feed for honeybee during the pollen-scarcity period from October 2024 until April 2025, and to compare their effects on wintering ability, colony growth, and citrus honey yield. Cumulatively, honeybees consumed the largest amounts of diet4 (2073.34 g), followed by diet3, diet1, and diet5 (1785.47, 1773.87 and 1767.44g, respectively), and the lowest amounts of diet 2 (1404.89g). The results showed increase wintering ability in colonies fed pollen substitutes compared to control colonies. Also, colonies fed on diet1 showed the highest growth rate in terms of sealed brood area, bee bread area, and bee population size, followed by colonies fed on diet2 then diet5, while the lowest growth rate was observed in the unfed colonies (control). Similarly, citrus honey production increased in colonies supplemented with pollen substitutes compared to the control colonies. The diet1, diet2, and diet5, are based on spirulina and chlorella as primary ingredients, outperformed the others. These results bode well for the development of more effective diets, which could contribute to improving the performance of honeybee colony. |
