Mykola H. Haydak

Age of Nurse Bees and Brood Rearing

SUMMARYNurse bees were forced to rear brood continuously, under field and laboratory conditions. The weight and the length of life of the bees they reared decreased when the nurse bees were much older than is normal (40–98 days instead of 5–16 days). Intestines of emerged bees reared by nurse bees 50 days old and more were very fragile. In the control colonies these phenomena were not observed.

Cholesterol, Pantothenic Acid, Pyridoxine and Thiamine Requirements of Honeybees for Brood Rearing

SummaryColonies of newly emerged bees which had never eaten pollen were offered diets consisting of (A) vitamin-free casein and minerals, or A supplemented with cholesterol and the vitamins of the B group (B), or with the B vitamins but without cholesterol (C), or with cholesterol and the vitamins except pantothenic acid (D), or with cholesterol and the B vitamins except pyridoxine (E), or with cholesterol and the B vitamins except thiamine (F). The colonies reared 5 cycles of brood on diets B, D and F, and 3 cycles on diet C. No adults were produced on diet E, and no larvae were reared to the sealing stage on diet A. It therefore appears that pyridoxine is required for normal brood rearing.

The role of honey in the prevention and cure ofnutritional anemia in rats

Summary Laboratory rats have been fed a diet of raw whole milk supplementedwith 20 per cent of honey. Rats receiving milk to which 16 per cent sucrose was added served as controls. Rats which received a milk-dark honey mixture ad libitum showedan increase in the hemoglobin content of their blood, while the hemoglobin content of rats fed light honey or sucrose supplement in their milk gradually decreased, The gain in weight as well as the food consumption in the first group was also greater. In paired feeding experiments, it was demonstrated that rats receiving a dark honey supplement were able to maintain their hemoglobin at almost the initial level, while the hemoglobin content of rats fed a light honey supplement declined to a level only about 30 per cent of normal, where it remained almost constant. The hemoglobin content of the blood of the control animals receiving a sucrose supplement fell steadily. When the hemoglobin content of the blood of young rats was reduced by a whole milk diet to 6 or 4 Gm. per 100 c.c. level, the addition of 20 per cent dark honey to the milk caused a gradual increase in the hemoglobin, while the addition of 20 per cent light honey permitted a gradual further decline in the hemoglobin until a level of about 3 Gm. per 100 c.c. was reached. It is concluded that the dark honey can play a role in the preventionand cure of nutritional anemia in rats, while light honey is less effective as a source of the blood-forming mineral elements.

Antihemorrhagic Vitamin Effect of Honey.

Summary Buckwheat, alfalfa and mixed honeys when fed incorporated in basal ration to vitamin K depleted chicks were found to possess a definite antihemorrhagic activity equal to approximately 0.25 μg of 2-methyl-1,4 naphthoquinone per gram of honey. The antihemorrhagic activity of honey was greatly lowered when honey was administered in an aqueous solution directly to the vitamin K depleted chicks. It was demonstrated that the antihemorrhagic activity of 2 -methyl-1,4 naphthoquinone is reduced about 3 times when fed in aqueous suspension. The antihemorrhagic activity of alfalfa hay in water suspension was practically nil while with an addition of 2 drops ethyl laurate, the prothrombin time was quite satisfactory.