Publication ICADS 2025

Presentation at an international conference 

«ICADS 2025: XIX. International Conference on Animal and Dairy Sciences»

Pollen quantity collected by honeybees affects various parameters of the beehive

Evangelia Birliraki, Nikolaos Birlirakis, Panagiota Psirofonia and Eleftherios Alissandrakis

Laboratory of Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, Landscape and Environment, Department of Agriculture, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Stavromenos PC 71410, Crete, Greece

*Correspondence: ealiss@hmu.gr

Abstract

Pollen is crucial for honeybee nutrition as it provides essential components such as protein, lipids, sterols, metals and trace elements, vitamins and various others. This work describes the effort to correlate the amount of pollen a beehive collects with various parameters of the hive. As expected, positive correlations were found between the amount of pollen collected and hive population (Pearson=0,868, p=0,001), while also with hive brood (Pearson=0,867, p=0,011). Honey production was not correlated either with population, brood, or the amount of pollen collected. Additionally, a negative correlation was observed between the weight of newly emerged bees and the amount of brood in the hive (Pearson=-0,868, p=0,001). These results point out the significance of the amount of pollen a beehive collects and underline the importance of the artificial diet during natural pollen scarce.