From our friends at the USDA.  I had not heard about this before.  Any
comments?
 
 
 
 
<Picture: News from the Agricultural Research Service>
 
 
 
For Tiptop Bee Health, Not All Pollens Are Created Equal
 
By Marcia Wood
June 8, 1998
 
 
 
Hardworking honey bees might need the farmer's help to get a varied diet
containing all the proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats and carbohydrates
necessary for good bee health.
 
Nectar supplies carbohydrates, or sugars. Pollen supplies everything else. But
sunflower pollen, one of the familiar honey bee's favorite foods, doesn't
provide enough protein, according to tests by Agricultural Research Service
scientists.
 
High crop yields depend on having healthy, effective pollinators, but bees
that work only in sunflower fields are likely to become undernourished. As
they lose strength, they may not do a good job in that crop or in other crops
they are "hired" to pollinate later on.
 
Sunflower growers can help bees get the mix of nutrients they need by planting
small areas of other crops such as canola, also known as rape, near sunflower
fields. Or they can let weeds and wildflowers grow along field edges, beside
ditches or among rock outcroppings.
 
Honey bees that pollinate only one greenhouse crop run a similar risk of
nutrient deficiency. As a preventive measure, beekeepers can place protein
supplements or high-protein pollen patties in the hive.
 
ARS scientists fed sunflower, sesame and canola pollen to about 125 European
honeybees housed in indoor cages at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in
Tucson, Ariz. Bees fed canola pollen lived 48 to 65 percent longer than those
fed sesame or sunflower pollens. Justin O. Schmidt, in charge of the study,
chose those crops because their planted acreages are increasing.