Apis Bio-Nutrition
This project (Apis Bio-Nutrition) has been entirely beekeeper driven, with nature being the chief ‘research scientist’. We wanted to know more about the biologically active constituents of floral nectar & pollen, and determined that the best methodology to employ would be to conduct a meta-analysis of the open access botany literature / texts to find those details. We did make some assumptions in this endeavour, of which the primary assumption being that nature does not make mistakes. Meaning, in simplistic terms, if it is present within floral nectar & pollen – the honeybee will have a biological adaptation within their physiology to utilize it. We are purposefully avoiding claims for this work, as we are also beekeepers, and have also been subject to the ‘miracle solution’ marketing that occurs in this space. What we will say, is that published research and academic text were utilized to identify the constituents, and subsequently quantify the respective concentrations of each element in these formulations, with the intent of mimicking nectar & pollen's nutritional composition, as precisely as possible. Beekeepers who have varroa well controlled, understand the value of young queens, and the critical timing associated with feeding interventions (avoiding nutritional stress events), will be able to add value to their beekeeping by incorporating these missing elements into their nutritional support program.
The indented use of Apis Bio-Nutrition is to provide a meaningful nutritional support program that can be employed during high stress situations for improved operational consistency and ‘control’ over season-to-season variability. While the respective quantities of these bioactive elements are less in comparison to the macro elements of the Honeybee diet, their impact on the growth and immune status of the colony is significant in the following application(s):
Building Population * Winter preparation * Dearth, or nutritionally depleted conditions * Pollination events * Nutritional Support for Queen Rearing* Mobilizing / Transport.
A meaningful step forward in Apiculture nutritional support programs.