Correlation of Royal Jelly composition with swarming tendency in honey bees (Apis mellifera): A review Chander Ivy Neha1, Marwaha Lovleen1,* 1Department of Zoology, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India *Corresponding Author: Lovleen Marwaha, Department of Zoology, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India, Email: lovleen.18863@lpu.co.in
Online Published on 3 January, 2024. Abstract Honey bees are eusocial insects which respond to warm weather, abundant food source by increasing their population through swarming to ensure the survival of the colony. To maintain a superior colony a queen must have a nutrient-rich diet and high egg production. Royal jelly is a high-quality food which has numerous beneficial properties required for proper growth, development, survival of the queen. Factors like congestion, lack of adequate queen pheromone, abnormal queen pheromone, pathogenic infections, exposure to pesticides influence the queen quality which further promotes non-reproductive swarming behaviour. Worker bees analyse the queen condition to prepare for supersedure or emergency queen rearing. This review paper highlights the influence of royal jelly composition on the queen quality, the impact of queen quality on swarming tendency, correlation between royal jelly composition and swarming tendency. Top Keywords Non-reproductive, Queen health, Quality, Royal Jelly, Swarming. Top |