Keywords: supersedure, sugar syrup, brood rearing, honey storage, comb building, foraging

An experiment was conducted to see the influence of feeding and supersedure in Apis mellifera Lin. in Chitwan (350 masl), Nepal in 2003/04. Five-framed fifty A. mellifera colonies with daughter queen prepared in August 2003. Twentyfive of them fed with sugar syrup @ 166g sugar/day for 6 days with 4 days interval and the rest were fed with only subsistence feeding for their survival during the dearth period. The colonies producing supersedure queen during October-November were separated and studed. The treatments consisted of feeding vs. control and supersedure vs. non-supersedure colonies in RCBD, replicated thrice with repeated observations over time. Twelve percent of the colonies were superseded. Sugar fed colonies significantly built more combs (supersedure 25.0% and non- supersedure 29.2% in pre-superseding, supersedure 69.2% and non-supersedure 54.5% in superseding and supersedure 50.0% and non-supersedure 28.5% in post-superseding period), reared significantly higher number of broods (supersedure 25.0% and non-supersedure 35.3% in pre-superseding, supersedure 82.4% and non-supersedure 37.8% in superseding and supersedure 39.4% and non-supersedure 61.9% in post-superseding period) and stored significantly more honey (non-supersedure 93.3% in pre-superseding, supersedure 101.7% and non-supersedure 304.0% in superseding and supersedure 134.7% and non-supersedure 227.0% in post-superseding period, however it was reduced by 41.7% in supersedure colony only in the superseding period) and pollen (non-supersedure 17.5% in pre-superseding, supersedure 12.8% and non-supersedure 73.1% in superseding and supersedure 32.1% and non-supersedure 27.6% in post-superseding period, however it was reduced by 50.0% in supersedure colony only in the superseding period) with improved foraging intensity: out-going flight (supersedure 269.1% and non-supersedure 39.5% in pre-superseding, supersedure 162.5% and non-supersedure 52.2% in superseding and supersedure 76.9% and non-supersedure 114.1% in post-superseding period), in-coming flight (supersedure 7.9% and non-supersedure 21.5% in pre-superseding, supersedure 117.7% and non-supersedure 60.3% in superseding and supersedure 67.4% and non-supersedure 83.5% in post-superseding period) and pollen carrying (supersedure 142.5% and non-supersedure 11.4% in pre-superseding, supersedure 301.8% and non-supersedure 200.0% in superseding and supersedure 73.5% and non-supersedure 64.0% in post-superseding period) throughout the period. They also produced significantly higher honey yield (19.2 vs 9.2 kg in superseded and 14.87 vs 5.87 kg/colony/season in non-superseded colonies) with the highest net return (Rs 4,711.32 vs 2,640.0 in superseded and 3,545.32 vs 774.00 in non-superseded colonies) compared to non-fed colonies. The honey production parameters in both supersedure and non-supersedure colonies and fed and non-fed colonies were highly and positively correlated.