Benefits of invertase use


Invertase is an enzyme that is secreted by the bee, that breaks down sucrose which exists in the nectar collected by the bees, or in the syrup supplied to the bees, to glucose and fructose. These sugars are monosaccharides and can be assimilated easily by the bees. Therefore, use of invertase in sugar syrups, helps the bees to assimilate rapidly the syrup, with less energy input required.  


Based on reasearch published by Goran Mirjanic et al. (apimondia 2013, “Impact of different feed on intestine health of honey bees”), enzyme inverted syrup is the best type of feed after honey regarding the average life span of bees. Unfortunately it is the only recent complete research paper published till now. The table below summarizes the results.


comparison of feeds

Use of invertase in sugar syrup or paste to achieve sugar inversion reduces feeding cost for many reasons. One of them is that since invert syrup requires less energy to be assimilated by the bees, they consequently need to consume less feed. An other reason is that the sugar paste remains soft till the end and the bees consume it all. We therefore do not observe outside the hive sugar paste thrown away by the bees.


As we saw in the publication above, the use of invertase promotes good health of bees since they tend to live longer. A healthy living creature also tends to be less prone to get sick.