Beekeeping is a branch of agriculture that deals with rearing of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Honey bees are social insects, and the honey bee colony is considered a superorganism with a clearly defined caste system and reproductive division of work. Adequate nutrition is the most important factor for the survival of bees. To survive, bees need pollen and nectar as a source of proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins and many other nutrients. A healthy bee colony requires 20 kg to 40 kg of pollen per year for its development, whereby the requirement varies depending on the age of the bees, the division of labour and the strength of the colony. The aim of the Master's thesis was to determine the type and quantity of pollen in each season, to determine the preferences of the colony for a specific type of pollen and to establish the relationship between the quality of the pollen and the physiological state of the bees under controlled laboratory conditions in cages. In the first part of the MSc thesis, pollen was collected at two locations and its colour and botanical origin were determined. In the second part, we conducted two experiments with 30 bees per cage. In the first experiment we had five and in the second seven different test groups with five replicates. We monitored the consumption of sugar solution/sugar cake, water and pollen and removed dead bees daily. We found that the variety of pollen depended on the location of pollen collection and the year, and that there were differences in the amount of pollen collected between colonies depending on the colour and botanical origin of the collected pollen. We confirmed our hypothesis that bees with a higher infestation of Nosema spp. would also have a higher food consumption and confirmed the positive effect of pollen on bee physiological state.
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