Abstract:
Apis cerana is one of the key species of honeybees and the only species used for
beekeeping purposes in Sri Lanka. Lack of sufficient bee colonies is a serious issue
for developing the beekeeping sector. Mass rearing of queens using the grafting
technique is a viable solution for easy multiplication of colonies. Priming media used
during the grafting procedure is the key factor in getting a healthy queen. Therefore,
this study aimed to evaluate the impact of five different priming media, viz., diluted
royal jelly (1:3), honey pollen mixture, honey, sugar syrup, and distilled water, with
a control that did not use any media, on the quality and performance of the queen bee.
The experiment was laid out in a complete randomized design using 15 replicates,
making a total of ninety samples. Different priming media were applied to
commercially available queen cell cups, and those were attached to hive frames. This
was followed by introducing one-day-old larvae using sterilized grafting tools, and
then the frames with the grafted queen cups were introduced into queen less hives.
The results revealed that the worker's acceptance of different priming media was
significantly different (p<0.05) among the tested media, with the highest acceptance
in diluted royal jelly (46.67%) and the lowest in control (0%). The queen emergence
also followed the same trend, having the highest emergence (33.33%) in diluted royal
jelly (p<0.05). While no significant differences were noted in body weight, body
length, time to egg-laying, or overall colony performance (p>0.05), the egg-laying
capacity varied significantly among treatments (p<0.05). Overall, diluted royal jelly
proved to be the most effective priming medium for queen rearing in Apis cerana
using the grafting technique.
