Quality of honeybee drones reared in colonies with limited and unlimited access to pollen

Abstract

International audienceOlder larvae of honeybee drones are fed with a diet containing pollen. It is not known how pollen deprivation during the larval development of drones might affect their reproductive quality. This study investigated ejaculation ability and semen quality in drones reared in colonies with limited (LP) and unlimited (ULP) access to pollen. Access to pollen was limited by pollen traps. Drone brood rearing was not instantly abandoned in colonies with limited access to pollen. Colonies from the LP group reared drones with smaller mass, which ejaculated in fewer numbers and released smaller amounts of semen. The LP and ULP groups did not differ in semen quality as judged by the concentration, number, and viability of spermatozoa in ejaculate. It was found that access to pollen during larval development directly affects the reproductive quality of drones

Improving the future of honey bee breeding programs by employing recent scientific advances

“…Interestingly, while an immune challenge decreased sperm viability, pollen deprivation in adult drones had no effect [65]. However, a lack of pollen availability during drone development resulted in smaller drones less able to ejaculate [66]. Results of these and similar studies should be used to establish optimal conditions for drone rearing and semen collection for cryopreservation and instrumental insemination.…”

Physiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Nutrition in Honey Bees

“…In general, only strong colonies with good nutritional status produce drones (Atkins et al, 1975;Smith et al, 2014). When limiting the access of pollen to drone brood, drones showed no difference in semen quality (Czeko nska et al, 2015).…”

The Ability of Honey Bee Drones to Ejaculate

“…Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011). This is confirmed by the differences in the number of drones needed to collect one dose of semen for the artificial insemination of the queen, as indicated by many authors (Chuda-Mickiewicz and Prabucki, 1993;Woyke, 2008;Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015 It is recommended that the queens should be artificially inseminated with semen from drones which are 10 -28 days old (Woyke and Jasiński, 1978;Harbo, 1986;Cobey et al, 2013). Using various methods, the drones in this age range can be provoked to evert the endophallus and release semen (Witherell, 1965;Laidlaw, 1977).…”

“…Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011). This is confirmed by the differences in the number of drones needed to collect one dose of semen for the artificial insemination of the queen, as indicated by many authors (Chuda-Mickiewicz and Prabucki, 1993;Woyke, 2008;Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015).…”

“…The drones reared under optimum thermal and feeding conditions have greater chance of mating (Jaycox, 1961;Rueppell et al, 2006;Czekońska et al, 2013). Drones reared in colonies of different quality, differ in the age when they reach the ability to copulate with the queen (Rhodes et al, 2011;Czekońska et al, 2015). Therefore, in practice, the age of drones is not the correct indicator of their sexual maturity (Kurennoi, 1953;Drescher, 1976;Rhodes et al, 2011).…”