Breeding Program Design Principles for Royal Jelly

Abstract

This research was carried out to infer the genetic value to produce royal jelly in Africanized Apis mellifera L. honeybees with the compilation of data collected from 2006 to 2011. Genetic information of the selected and accessed colonies was obtained using the total DNA extraction techniques of nurse honeybees' thorax with molecular markers for MRJP3 protein and characterized in Apis mellifera L. From the information on the colonies and genealogical structure were predicted genetic values of the colonies and queens for the larvae acceptance trait (%), royal jelly per colony (g), and royal jelly per cup (mg). Animal model with Bayesian Inference was used from Multiple Trait Gibbs Sampling software in Animal Models, Gibbs chains 58,500 cycles resulting from 650,000 cycles with intervals and disposal of 65,000 and 10 withdraw, respectively. From the predicted values, the colonies were classified into upper and lower. To compare the average of the genetic values according to the genotypes, the average multiple comparison tests were proceeded and implemented in routine PROC GENMOD from the Statistical Analysis System. Environmental effects were considered, time and hive type (standard Langstroth) as having flat distribution and collection as chi-square distribution. The studies presented an increase in the alleles C and D and the alleles D and E-referring to MRJPs-found in the highest genetic value for royal jelly production. Alleles D, E, and C are important when evaluating the parameters larvae acceptance, royal jelly per colony, and royal jelly per cup and, occasionally, it was the DE genotype that stood out royal jelly production. Genotypes DE, DC, and EC are those that should be kept in this evaluation system for royal jelly production, and the other genotypes should be discarded because they had the worst performance for the parameters evaluated.

Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (<i>Apis mellifera bandasii</i>) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia

“…According to these results, the average honey yield of the selected colonies was found to be 41.7% higher than that produced by initial colonies (before any selection). The main reason for the differences among the groups in the current study could be the continuous production of selected queens from the stock with desirable phenotypic and genetic characteristics [13]. Perfect development and productivity of the colony depends mainly on the quality of its queen [13], as the progeny inherits half of the characteristics from the maternal line.…”

“…The main reason for the differences among the groups in the current study could be the continuous production of selected queens from the stock with desirable phenotypic and genetic characteristics [13]. Perfect development and productivity of the colony depends mainly on the quality of its queen [13], as the progeny inherits half of the characteristics from the maternal line. Thus, the current variation in honey yield of selected and non-selected honeybee colonies indicates that heritability of honey production and its gain through selective breeding [8].…”

The mpjp3 microsatellite marker: determination of honeybee subspecies or/and royal jelly productivity of bee colony

“…RJ production is influenced by many factors such as posture and acceptance of larvae, size and bursa number of the hypopharyngeal glands, the time and the period of RJ secretion, genetic features of bees, and the environmental factors including nutrition, climate conditions, and others (Cao, 2016;Ostrovski-Tomporoski et al, 2016). For example, the content of 10hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid, which is the most important RJ quality criteria, varies significantly with season, harvesting time (Zheng et al, 2011), breed, and geographical origin of bees (Wei et al, 2013).…”

“…However, genetic assessments of bee colonies, for example, an analysis of the level of RJ productivity in honeybees of different subspecies (different evolutionary branches) or the genetic characteristics of highly RJ productive bee colonies, are rare (Chen et al, 2005;Ji et al, 2009;Baitala et al, 2010;Yin et al, 2011;Parpinelli et al, 2014;Ruvolo-Takasusuki et al, 2016). At the same time the selection of bee colonies (breeds) with a high RJ productivity, the search for DNA markers associated with the RJ productivity and a queen selection program to increase RJ production is of considerable scientific and practical interest (Cao et al, 2016;Ostrovski-Tomporoski et al, 2016).…”