Selection for high and low pollenhoarding honey bees

The effects of pollen availability during larval development on the behaviour and physiology of spring-reared honey bee workers

“…Each colony consisted of a full-sized Langstroth hive body for a brood chamber and was headed by a lab-reared and naturally mated queen of mixed Buckfast and Italian descent. Genotype, which can have a significant influence on pollen foraging, storage and utilisation in colonies (e.g., Hellmich et al, 1985;Calderone and Page, 1992;Dreller and Page, 1999), was not controlled for in this study so that natural variation in colony response across treatment groups would be quantified. Each spring, a four-frame nucleus colony was installed in a glass-walled observation hive that was housed in a building located 1200 m from the field colonies in 2002 and 30 m away in 2003.…”

Differences in drone sperm morphometry and activity at the beginning and end of the season

“…In the 1930s, the first successful artificial insemination of queen bees was carried out in the United States. Currently, artificial insemination of bees is used primarily for research purposes and in breeding work for the maintenance and selection of stocks with specific traits (6,8). During insemination the queen receives (depending on the method) from 2 to 10 mm 3 of semen in 1-3 doses.…”

Selected High and Low Pollen Hoarding Colonies of Apis mellifera for Apple Foraging Preference

“…Hygienic behaviour for selecting Varroa tolerant colonies and pollen hoarding and pollen foraging preference have been considered as basis for selection of colonies (Rinderer, 1986 Hellmich et al, (1985) have also made selection for high and low pollen hoarding honeybees and selected three sublines of high pollen hoarders and 3 with low pollen hoarders. They have reported differences in amount of pollen hoarded in different strains of honeybees.…”

“…The pollen area at 10 days interval was also recorded to generate better information on pollen hoarding by individual colony (Hellmich et al, 1985).…”

“…Maximum amount of honey was stored in colony number L-4 whereas, the minimum was stored in colony number G-2 (250 g). Hellmich et al, (1985) have also selected colonies for alfalfa foraging preference. They found that high and low lines selected for pollen foraging for alfalfa were significantly different.…”