A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary protein levels on the population growth，foodconsumption，emergent weight and body protein of Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola． In early spring，30 A． mellifera  ligustica colonies of equal size，queen quality and age were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups and 1 control group．The treatment groups were fed experimental diets containing different amounts of dietary protein ( 20% ，25% ，30% ，35% ，40% )，and the control group was fed rape pollen． The results indicate that the food intake of the control colonies  as significantly higher than that of the 40% protein group (P ＜ 0. 05) ． The adult population growth of the 25% ，30%   and 35% protein groups were not significantly different ( P ＞ 0. 05)，but all were significantly higher than that of the   control group (P ＜ 0. 05) ． The emergent weight of workers increased in colonies fed up to 35% dietary protein，but
decreased in colonies fed higher levels of dietary protein． There was no obvious difference in the body protein of the nurse   worker bees between the control group and treatment groups receiving 20% ，25% and 30% dietary protein (P ＞ 0. 05)， but the body protein of nurse worker bees in the other treatment groups was significantly higher than that of the control   group (P ＜ 0. 05) ．