Get the latest tech news
New supplement could save pollen-starved beehives
Beekeepers in many regions are having a hard time of it, as their honeybees struggle to find enough pollen to sustain the colony. Scientists are now addressing that problem with a new nutritional supplement which is described as being like "a PowerBar for bees."
Developed over a 10-year period via a collaboration between WSU and Belgian company APIX Biosciences, it contains multiple undisclosed ingredients along with six different sterols (naturally occurring steroids) that bees ordinarily obtain from pollen. Importantly, though, all of the sterols are present in ratios and concentrations similar to those found in natural areas where honeybees gather pollen. In field tests, a number of small hives subsisted exclusively on the supplement for one honey-producing season, as they were kept from obtaining pollen by being placed in a tented enclosure.
Or read this on r/tech.jpg)
