Royal jelly production in Africanized honeybee colonies considering different protein supplements and the influence of environmental factors/Producao de geleia real em colonias de abelhas africanizadas considerando diferentes suplementos proteicos e a influencia de fatores ambientais

This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of proteic supplement on royal jelly production in honeybee colonies and its correlation with environmental variables. The treatments were: colonies that had received a diet formulated with 35% crude protein, colonies that had received a commercial supplement with 35% crude protein, and colonies that did not receive protein diet. There was no difference (p > 0.05) among the treatments for parameters of production. The average for each variable was: amount accepted larvae, 8.56 [[+ or -] or -] 6.76; acceptance percentage, 29.20 [[+ or -] or -] 22.03%; amount of royal jelly produced per colony, 1.83 [[+ or -] or -] 0.82 g; and amount of royal jelly produced per cup, 213.58 [[+ or -] or -] 108.36 mg. Rainfall did not affect (p > 0.05) royal jelly production. The selected models point to a negative correlation among larvae accepted with the maximum temperature and low relative humidity. Larvae acceptance and royal jelly production per cup had a positive correlation with the maximum relative humidity and negative correlation with the minimum relative humidity. It can be concluded that the addition of proteic supplement (35%) did not increase royal jelly production of Africanized honeybee colonies, and its use for this purpose was unprofitable.