I Imitation pollen means cheaper honeybee diets BELTSVILLE, Md. - An important advance in beekeeping may be on the horizon inexpensive, artificial diets for honeybees. The reason for optimism comes from USDA’s Bioenvironmental Bee Laboratory in Beltsville, where scientists have discovered how to make honeybees think that low cost substitute foods are pollen, the honeybee’s natural food. Bee scientists Elton W. Herbert and Hachiro Shunanuki use a chemical process called “starch en capsulation” to capture and hold the aroma, or flavor, of pollen. The flavor is then mixed wifh pollen sub stitutes whey, yeast or other high-protein products'. Experimental colonies fed pollen-flavored foods produced as much honey and reared as much brood as colomes on diets containing real pollen, say Herbert and Shimianuki. “Several substitute diets are nutritious and have been available to beekeepers for some time, but up to now bees simply have not en joyed eating them,” says USDA’s staff scientist for bees Burt Martin. Pollen substitutes, which also include soybean flour, dry skim milk, cottonseed meal and corn glutm, are at least eight times cheaper than pollen. Thus, when beekeepers need to sup plement the honeybee’s natural diet of foraged pollens and nectars, they could save money by using pollen-flavored substitutes instead of real pollen. Beekeepers give food supplements, artificial or natural, to colonies in early spring m order to stimulate brood rearing. Colomes are thus built up m time to pollinate early flowering crops, such as blueberries and almond*! Supplements Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 13,1970 can also be used to provide food reserves in winter, help rebuild colonies after bees are killed by pesticides, or to maintain colonies where flowers are in short supply. The chemicals that make up the flavor of pollen have been studied by scientists for at least 15 years. Prior to the work by Herbert and Shimanuki, no one found a practical use for the natural chemicals, mainly because the active ingredients evaporated too quickly after being extracted from pollen. Starch encapsulation means that molecules of volatile substances, such as the flavor extracts, are chemically woven into a matrix of giant starch molecules. Because the GET PLENTY OF WATER FOR MODERN LIVING 6 WITH GOULDS HIGH CAPACITY Submersible Pumps for Four-Inch Wells [j • Capacities to j 115 gallons ' per minute • Quiet • Streamlined construction • Easy to install and service | • A size to suit any home and p farm water requirement, at any well depth • with DEPENDABILITY from NOAH N. MARTIN CO. Located on Rt. 340, Intercourse, PA Across From C B. Hoober & Son “WE SERVICE WHAT WE SELL” PHONE 717-768-3531 OUR SERVICE IS CERTAIN - FAIL SPECIAL - RED BARN RUBBER COW MATS SIZES AVAILABLE ★ 38” x 64” ★ 42” x 60” ★ 48” x 72” ★ 48” x 84” |” Check Our Rubber Mat Prices ”1 i Before You Buy! J ★ INQUIRE WITH US FOR SILO PRICES El HENRY $. LAPP I Box 175 R.D. 1 (Cains) | Gap, PA 17527 Phone (717) 442-8134 starch breaks down slowly, the flavor is released slowly from supplemental bee foods, attracting bees for several weeks. Starch en capsulation is a recent achievement of scientists at USDA’s Regional Research Center in Peoria, Illinois. The process has been widely accepted by pesticide makers and users as a way to protect pesticides from sunlight and rain, and for making the materials safer and easier to use. Herbert and Shimanuki hope their research will stimulate private industry to make starch-encapsulated pollen flavor available to the bee industry. Beekeepers m the U.S. produce over 290 million pounds of honey, while their bees pollinate crops valued at $l2 to $l5 billion. Currently, the USDA scientists are running new experiments to determine the best levels of pollen flavor to add to different kinds of bee foods. Also, Shimanuki says that pollen flavor can help prevent the spread of b j e diseases. The reason is that by using pollen-flavored foods, the beekeeper won’t have to collect supplemental pollen from pollen traps in the hives. The traps tend to collect disease-causing microorganisms as well as pollen, the scientist says, because remnants of sick or dead bees get trapped as workers attempt to remove them from the hive. Herbert and Shimanuki are with USDA’s Science and Education Administration Four-H is the key that opens the door to new friends and fun, to new learning experiences and skills. It helps you earn and save money through interesting project activities. Contact your local county Extension agent to obtain your “key.” ★ 60” x 60” ★ 60”x72” ★ 60” x 84” 117
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