http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132014


Abstract
Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations face declines commonly
attributed to pesticide, pathogen, and parasite stress. One way beekeepers
combat these stressors is by providing supplemental protein diets to honey
bee colonies to ensure adequate colony nutrition. However Nosema spp., a
microsporidian parasite of the honey bee, is thought to be associated
closely with a colony's nutritional intake, thus possibly negating any
benefit the bees otherwise would have received from a nutritional
supplement. Through three objectives, we examined how adult bees'
consumption of wildflower pollen or commercial pollen substitute diets
affected Nosema levels in the bees' midguts. For our first objective, we
investigated how method of inoculation with Nosema affects infection levels
in inoculated bees. Bees were infected with spores of Nosema four days after
emergence. On day 15, bees were collected from the cages and Nosema spores
were quantified. We found that inoculation through the pollen diet resulted
in the highest Nosema levels in inoculated bees. In our second and third
objectives, we provided the test diets to caged, newly emerged bees for a
period of 15 days. Bees consuming pollen and a sucrose solution had more
Nosema in their midguts than did bees consuming the sucrose solution alone
(control). The overall volume of diet consumed by the bees did not correlate
with the level of Nosema in their midguts. The level of Nosema was higher in
bees fed certain commercial pollen substitute diets than in bees fed
wildflower pollen. Our study illustrates how providing nutritional
supplements to adult honey bees can impact the intensity of Nosema in their
midguts.


Kind regards,

Ghislain De Roeck,
Belgium

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