Nauka Przyroda Technologie

2007 volume 1 issue 4 #48

Bożena Szymaś, Antoni Przybył

Midgut histological picture of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) following consumption of substitute feeds supplemented with feed additives

Summary. The histological picture of the honey bee ventriculus undergoes changes as a result of action of such factors as, among others: toxic substances, incorrect nutrition, bacterial infections or age of the insect. The objective of this research project was to assess morphological changes in the midgut of the honey bee with a special emphasis on the degree of the peritrophic membrane production following the consumption of sugar syrup or pollen substitute to which either lactic acid or probiotic preparation were added. The performed investigations failed to reveal significant levels of bee deaths and the recorded high percentage proportion of live insects indicates their good physical condition. The histological analysis of the morphological changes of the midgut epithelial cells of bees fed substitute feeds confirmed slight changes in the cell structures. Differences were recorded in the quantities of the developed peritrophic membranes. The microscopic pictures of midguts of worker bees fed carbohydrate or protein pollen substitute revealed that the highest numbers of peritrophic membranes could be found when the sugar syrup or pollen substitute was supplemented with the probiotic preparation.

Key words: honey bee, midgut, histological picture, perytrophic membranes, feeding

Full text available in English in Adobe Acrobat format:
https://www.npt.up-poznan.net/pub/art_1_48.pdf

Streszczenie w języku polskim:
https://www.npt.up-poznan.net/tom1/zeszyt4/streszczenie-48.html

Corresponding address:
Bożena Szymaś
Bożena Szymaś
Katedra Hodowli Owadów Użytkowych
Akademia Rolnicza im. Augusta Cieszkowskiego w Poznaniu
ul. Wojska Polskiego 71 C
60-634 Poznań
Poland

e-mail: beszymas@au.poznan.pl

Accepted for print: 29.07.2007