Artificial Diet Supplementation: A Review for Sustainable Approach to Boost Honeybee Health

Honeybees play an important role in ecosystem management and agriculture productivity with their pollination services. They are helpful in production of 35% of global food, which requires animal pollination. However, they face many challenges for their survival and development. These includes some of reasons like habitat loss, climate change, the use of insecticides in modern agriculture practices, loss of natural flora, and change in temperature. A declining honeybee population poses a threat to both ecological balance and food security. In response artificial diets are the emerging source torescue the bees to supplement natural forage in unfavorable conditions to overcome bees from the nutrient deficiency and potential threats. However, the use of artificial diet on honeybee health remains poorly understood within a broader ecosystem context. This paper aims to provide the information of current understanding of effects of artificial diets on honeybee health, considering ecological conditions. We evaluate the nutritional composition of natural diet and compared it with the nutritional composition of artificial diets, their effect on honeybee’s colony health, physiology, colony dynamics, immune functions, and their ecological outcomes at the population and community levels. The artificial diets have the positive effects on the bee health in the absence of natural food and dearth period. Additionally we explore how artificial diet influence honeybee behavior such as foraging and examine the gene expression and diseases resistant quality of the diets. The studies show that these diets may relieve immediate nutritional deficiencies; they also interrupt the natural foragebehavior and interactions with native flora, particularly leading to the unplanned ecological conditions. We call for future research to close the knowledge gaps and modify the use of artificial diets while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.