DEVELOPMENT OF A BEE FEEDING PROCEDURE TO SUPPORT BEE HEALTH PROTECTION

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of inulin (a commercial prebiotic) on the gut microbiota of the honeybee (Apis mellifera carnica pannonica). Some colonies of equal strength were fed with sugar syrup or inulin supplemented syrup at different dosages. Bee samples were collected at the beginning of the experiment and then every two weeks until the end of the study. The intestinal tracts of five bees per treatment were isolated, homogenised, diluted and the amount of living microbes (mainly the probiotic microbes) were determined by using differential and semi selective agar plates. Four different experiments were carried out in 2018 and 2019 and we found that the inulin has no detectable effect on the composition of gut microbiome by culture based methods in the case of LAB (lactic acid bacteria), Bifidobacterium spp, Snodgrassella, Gilliamella and Frischella sp.