Avaliação do potencial nutricional e toxicidade de vegetais na alimentação suplementar de abelhas canudos.

Abstract

The nutritional ecology of bees involves the balance of essential nutrients, with pollen being a crucial source. Lack of resources can result in nutritional stress and affect colony health. Supplementary diets have been considered to compensate for pollen shortages, which are caused by adverse climatic conditions, loss of natural habitats, changes in the urban landscape, seasonal limitations in the availability of floral resources and low plant diversity. Among bee species, Scaptotrigona depilis (straw bee), is a stingless, native species, found in the Brazilian Northeast region, and is considered a key species for the Caatinga biome. The present work was carried out with the aim of analyzing the effectiveness of artificial diets in straw bees, regarding the aspects of attractiveness and toxicity in controlled environments. The research was carried out in the laboratories of the Ignácio Hernan Salcedo Experimental Station 3 INSA, Campina Grande, Paraíba. For this, an attractiveness test was carried out, selecting ten samples of vegetables from the Caatinga. Subsequently, three vegetables were chosen based on the results of the attractiveness test and nutritional criteria to carry out physical-chemical and bromatological analyses, in addition to toxicity tests for the native bee S. depilis. At the same time, the influences of abiotic factors (temperature, radiation and humidity) on foraging behavior were evaluated, and a test was also conducted to determine the longevity of the species in question. To evaluate attractiveness, the action spectrum method was used, with ten repetitions and eating behavior was recorded by observation and counting of visitors every hour, from 7:00 to 17:00, for statistics ANOVA tests were used. and Tukey. Regarding physicochemical and bromatological analyses, dry matter, mineral matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, neutral and acid detergent fiber, total and non-fibrous carbohydrates, and reducing sugars were tested. For toxicity assessment, three vegetables were evaluated at concentrations of 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75%, 1% and the control fed with candi paste, the results were analyzed using the Log-Rank test. The most attractive vegetables were the canafístula pod, mesquite, gliricidia seed and umbu leaf. As for foraging, it is directly positively correlated with temperature and solar radiation index. Regarding longevity, S. depilis bees had a life expectancy, with a maximum of 47, a minimum of 12 and an average rate of 24 days. The vegetables selected were gliricidia seeds, mesquite pods and canafístula. The analysis revealed that the gliricidia seed had a higher content of dry matter, organic matter and protein. Mesquite pods demonstrated a good proportion of protein, while canafístula has a higher content of mineral matter and fiber. Bees fed with mesquite and canafístula pods showed positive results in the toxicity assessment, however, gliricidia demonstrated toxicity. Artificial diets based on mesquite and canafístula proved to be effective in guaranteeing the nutrition and health of straw bees during dry periods.