الفهرس 
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Abstract
Considerable interest has been given to study the factors affecting venom acid gland development and produce good bee venom quantities. The main objective of the present work had been oriented to study improvement of bee venom quantity produced directly from honey bee colonies by electrical impulses technique.
The experiments were carried out in the apiary of Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University during seasons of 2008 and 2009.
The present study includes three aspects:
a- Studies on some factors affecting morphometrical characters of venom acid glands.
b- Studies on some factors affecting venom productivity by electrical impulses from honey bee colonies.
c- Studies on seasonal fluctuation of venom production in relation to some activities in honey bee colonies during active season.
The obtained results and conclusion could be summarized as follows:
1- Studies on some factors affecting morphometrical characters of venom acid gland:
1.1- Effect of honey bee race:
Samples of Egyptian race and Carniolan hybrid honey bee workers were collected from four districts in Assiut governorate. Total length, volume of venom sac and percentage of bifurcation of acid gland were measured. The results indicated that:
a- Egyptian honey bee had the smallest acid gland length (10.86 mm) whereas the Carniolan hybrid bees had the greatest length (13.497 mm) with a deviation percent of +24.28%.
b- Poison sac volume of Egyptian race and Carniolan hybrid bees were 1.0138 and 1.8425 mm3, respectively. A highly significant difference was recorded between the two types of bees.
c- The percentage of split glands varied from race to race with a general averages 66.25% and 51.25% in Egyptian and Carniolan hybrid bees, respectively.
d- Frequency distribution of venom acid gland length of Egyptian and Carniolan hybrid bees has been calculated. The venom gland lengths were classified into 7 grades. The highest percentage of gland length in Egyptian bees (45.31%) was recorded under the third grade (1.00-1.19 mm) whereas, 34.06% from glands was recorded under the fourth grade (1.20-1.39 mm) in Carniolan hybrid bees.
It may be concluded that the differences between gland lengths and percentages of split glands among the bee races are hereditary traits.
1.2- Effect of proteinic food stores in honey bee colonies on morphometrical characters of venom gland:
Effects of bee bread sufficiency or scarcity inside bee hives and using traditional pollen substitute on variability of gland length and sac volume during nursing and guarding period were studied, the results indicate that:
a- Under sufficient level from bee bread area inside honey bee colonies, the total length of acid gland increased with the worker’s age and reached to the maximum at 18th day-old (13.04 mm) and mean of sac volume was 1.34 mm3.
b- Under bee bread area scarcity inside honey bee colonies, the total gland length at 18th day-old was 12.16 mm. sac volume remained very small (0.75 mm3).
c- Under bee bread area scarcity and providing honey bee colonies with traditional substitute, acid gland length developed with worker age and reached to 12.50 mm at 18th day-old and mean sac volume increased to 0.99 mm3.
from the present results, we can concluded that feeding honey bee workers with bee bread or depriving them not had a clear effect on venom gland length but had an impact effect upon sac volume which reflects the status of venom secretion.
1.3- Effect of honey bee workers weight:
To find the relationship between the variation of honey bee worker weight and acid gland length, an experiment was carried out. The results showed that:
a- The total gland length of guard bees was 14.81 mm. When honey bee workers transformed to foragers, the gland length decreased by -3.14%.
b- The weight of honey bee workers of guard age (18th day-old) ranged between 84.64 to 123.88 mg. In parallel, the shortest length of acid gland (13.02 mm) was correlated with lesser worker weight group, while the longest gland (14.91 mm) was correlated with weighty one.
c- Forager bees were distributed to seven categories in accordance with their weights. The forager weight ranged between 73.88 to 112.89 mg. It indicated that the forager weight decreased at foraging period.
d- In foragers group, the shortest length of acid gland (12.14 mm) was recorded with the least worker weight whereas, the longest one (14.49 mm) was recorded with weighty foragers group.
e- Significant positive correlation was recorded between the weight of foragers and their acid gland length, but this relation was not significant with guard bees.
2- Studies on some factors affecting venom productivity:
Some factors affecting venom extraction by electrical impulses technique as bee bread sufficiency inside honey bee colonies, aggressiveness degree and position of venom collection board during the time of colony excitation were studied:
2.1. Study on the relationship between the storage area of bee bread and bee venom quantity extracted:
When honey bee colonies contained sufficient areas from bee bread, the excitation by electrical impulses technique produced 84.3 mg dry venom/colony. The quantity decreased to 41.9 mg when honey bee colonies deprived from bee bread. It means that scarcity of bee bread in honey bee colonies during period of venom collection reduce their productivity by 50.3%. When supplementary feeding was administrated for depriving colonies, venom production increased slightly to 49.1 mg/colony.
2.2- Study on the relationship between colony aggressiveness degree and venom quantity extracted:
Venom quantities collected from aggressive colonies in comparison with calm one were relatively inferior. The venom production negatively correlated with colony aggressive behavior because the bee stingers were unstable on venom collection boards during time of colony excitation by electrical impulses.
2.3- Study on the relationship between the position of venom collection boards and venom quantity extracted:
Three positions were applied for venom collection boards attachment to honey bee hives (at hive entrance, beside the hive frames, over frames top.). The venom extraction achieved the highest amount (93.22 mg/colony) when the venom collection board was attached over the colony frames. The venom quantity increased significantly with 37.41% when compared by the position of boards at the hive entrance.
3. Seasonal fluctuation of venom quantities produced in relation to some activities of honey bee colonies during seasons of 2008 and 2009:
3.1. Variation in brood rearing activity:
Seasonal fluctuation of sealed brood areas during the two seasons of study indicated that it increased with clover plants flowering in May. The maximum activity was recorded during the second peak in mid-June, and then the sealed brood areas decreased gradually. The third peak was recorded in August correlated with cotton flow.
3.2. Variation in bee bread areas:
Bee bread areas fluctuated during active season. Bee bread areas stored in April were small. from mid-May, pollen collection increased gradually by honey bee colonies until mid-June during clover flowering in the two seasons of study. Other peaks of pollen collection and storage were recorded in July and August. These results indicated that there was a shortage of pollen collection at beginning of May and in the same time, honey bee workers consumed more from stored bee bread during colony growth period.
3.3- Variation in unsealed and sealed honey:
Unsealed and sealed honey areas were measured during active season from April until the end of August to determine the foraging outcome of honey bee workers. The areas of unsealed honey increased rapidly and reached to the first peak at beginning of June (306.5 and 456.4 inch2/colony) in the two seasons of study, respectively. The second peak was recorded in mid-July (429.3 and 448.0 inch2/colony), during cotton flow in 2008 and 2009 seasons.
3.4. Variation in venom quantities produced:
Fluctuations of venom production from honey bee colonies by excitation with electrical impulses at different periods of active season were recorded. The results showed that there were three peaks of venom production during the period of study. The smallest one was recorded in May and the second in June. The highest amounts of bee venom (144.33 and 121.42 mg/colony) were obtained at the third peak at the end of July, during 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Correlation coefficient values between amount of venom extracted and some activities of honey bee colonies were calculated. Results show a significant positive correlation between venom amount and unsealed and sealed honey areas.
Finally, using electrical impulses technique for venom collection will be increased the income of beekeepers beside to other products and open the door to use venom preparation for human health at large scale