Bee-breeding and queen rearing-Haim-Efrat.pptx

Haim Efrat
Ministry of Agriculture
Israel
October 2011
The Extension
Service
Bee Breeding

BEE BREEDING
Breeding is not the ultimate solution for
everything
Breeding will be useful when all the
other factors are in the maximum:
management, nutrition, bee flora etc.

BEE BREEDING
Definition - The process of bearing
offspring: The process of reproduction
of the queen bee.
It includes two activities:
Bee improvement
Queen rearing

METHODS OF GENETIC
IMPROVEMENT OF BEES
Introduction
Selection
Crossing between Races & lines

 Within a superfamily of honey bee colony,
there are many subfamilies, depends on
the numbers and types of drones with
whom she mates - Subfamily is group of
workers fathered by the same drone.
 In the bee colony we may find 4 kinds of
sisters:
THE COMPLEXITY IN BEE BREEDING

 Relationship between workers in the
colony:
 Supersisters- the same mother and father

THE HONEY BEE – SUPER ORGANISM
Supersisters
Supersisters
+
+

colony:
 Full sisters- the same mother, the fathers
are Brothers

colony:
are Brothers
 Half sisters - the same mother, different
fathers

THE HONEY BEE – SUPER ORGANISM
Supersisters
Supersisters
+
+
+

colony:
are Brothers
 Half sisters - the same mother, different
fathers
 No relationship - due to natural
requeening. This will be the relationship
between queens which are bred from
outstanding colony.

SEX ALLELES IN HONEYBEES –
Sex alleles Sex alleles
Queen
SEX DETERMINATION
Drone
Queen
Drone
Drones
Workers
Drones
Workers

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE
HONEY PRODUCTION?
Answer:
P = G + M +E +I +?
P = Production
M = Management
E = Environment
I = Interaction between all factors
? = Unknown factors
In order to maximize production all the factors
should be in the highest possible level.

THE OBJECTIVES OF BEE BREEDING
 To supply better bees to beekeepers.
 In terms of:
Food Gathering
Disease Resistance
Gentle Behavior

IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THESE
OBJECTIVES, A COOPERATION
SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED
BETWEEN THE WHOLE SYSTEMS OF
BEEKEEPERS, RESEARCH, AND
EXTENSION.

NECESSARY LINKS IN DEVELOPMENT
AND PRODUCTION OF IMPROVED STOCK
Honey
producer
Bee
Geneticist
Queen
Producer

NECESSARY LINKS IN DEVELOPMENT AND
PRODUCTION OF IMPROVED STOCK
1.Beekeepers - Carry out Field tests under
practical conditions, where stock is to be
used.
2.Bee geneticist - Should take the decisions
involved in the project.
 How to get the improved stock?
 How to maintain the improved stock?
 How to release the improved stock?
3. Queen Producers.
Produce improved stock for sale.

IN THE BEEKEEPING LEVEL
 All the queens in the breeding apiaries
should be marked and young.
 Best management practices.
 All the colonies in the breeding apiary
should get the same care and
management.
 All the observations and comparisons
should be carried out at the same site.

 Registration of the data and not impression.
Using of objectives terms. No more good and
bad, or light and heavy.
 Identification of the main problems.
 Identification of the preferred traits for
selection.
 Collecting of the data and sending them to the
geneticist for analyze.
 Sharing and exchanging of breeding material.
IN THE BEEKEEPING LEVEL

BEE IMPROVEMENT FOR INCREASING HONEY
PRODUCTION THE MOST COMMON
PROCEDURES
o Introduction of foreign stock
o Selection among the local stock
o Introduction of breeding material:
Selected or A.I. queens
o Introduction of other bee races for
crossing: Caucausian, Carniolan and
others

THE OBJECTIVES OF QUEEN’S EVALUATION
Objective evaluation of the local stock
in terms of colony performance: honey
production , bee behavior, and disease
resistance
 Evaluation of the local bee
improvement in the government
facilities

QUEEN’
No. hives
and
apiaries
S EVAL
Buckfast F
X Caucas
ian M
UATI
Buckfas
t M X
Caucas
ian F
ON 20
Introduced
queens
06-20
Buck fast
lines
07
Caucasian
Crossed
lines
Control
line
Italian
5 apiaries
304 hives
1
Hawa
ii
1 1 11/05 2006
8 apiaries
552 hives
1 1 2 3 16/06 2007

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Experiment sites
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
WELL BALANCE FORMATION OF QUEEN TEST
WHICH EVALUATE AN EQUAL NUMBER OF COLONIES
FROM EVERY LINE IN EACH SITE
Line
Line average,
Statistical analysis:
site -Interaction line ,Site average

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sites
Line
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
THE ACTUALL FORMATION OF QUEEN TEST WHICH
EVALUATE AN NUMBER OF MOTHER LINE OF
QUEENS IN DIFFERENT SITES
Statistical analysis:
Line average, Site average, Interaction line- site
Line G is a control line which present in all sites

CROP
OF DIFFERENT MOTHER LINES IN 2006
(S.E.)
Annual honey crop Spring honey crop Mother line
47.7± 1.5 b 27.0± 1.0 b Italian - Control
52.7± 1.5 b 28.5± 0.9 b Caucasian
51.0± 1.8 b 29.1± 1.1 b Buckfast
37.9± 1.8 a 21.4 ± 1.0 a Italian Hawaii

Annual honey
production
Spring Honey
Production
Mother line
62.9± 2.5 a 29.4 ± 1.6 a Caucasian 6/06
57.5± 2.5 a 29.2± 1.3 a Caucasian 1/06
54.6± 2.6 bc 28.7± 1.7 a Caucasian 10/05
55.3± 1.7 b 28.6± 1.2 a Buckfast 1
47.2± 2.6c 25.9 ± 1.7 a Bucfast 2
50.1± 1.3 c 26.1± 0.9a Control 16/06
51.5± 3.9 bc 25.2± 2.5 a BuckfastXCaucasia
n
35.9± 4.5 d 18.7± 2.9 b CaucasianX
Buckfast
OF DIFFERENT MOTHER LINES IN 2007
(S.E.)

CONCLUSIONS FROM THE QUEEN’S
EVALUATION
 The introduced Italian (from Hawaii) –Low
production and bad performance
 Buckfast- High honey production, different
results of mother lines and years.
 Caucasian – High honey production and
different mother lines in terms of production
 Italian –Control – good and consistent

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
USING BUCKFAST AND CAUCASIAN BREED OF
BEES
 Some of these races lines relatively high honey
yields.
 Using foreign and introduced breeds ,mostly will
be mated by local/Italian drones, but, brings pure-
bred males distributing non-local/Italian.
 As the use of "foreigners“ and introduced breed
will expand, the more pure male strangers.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
USING BUCKFAST AND CAUCASIAN BREED OF
BEES
 Most of the beekeepers are not interested in the
introduced pure males 'probably because their
daughters relatively low honey yields
 The question is: how to have side by side the
interest of some breeders raise Caucasian and
Buckfast bees and on the interest of most
breeders continue to develop the Italian/local
bee?

FUNDAMENTAL CONCLUSIONS REGARDING
THE IMPROVEMENT OF BEES
 Genetic basis of Bees improvement should be
and continue, the Italian bee , or other bees
which should be considered.
 There is certainly justification for integrating
additional high-yield stock of bees. Present
evidence regarding this move possible
shortcomings, this must be done while building
barriers and control.
 Ministry of Agriculture policy change regarding
the approval of importing new breeds of bees
should be subject to a scientifically based
proposal backed by the beekeepers
Organization on the intelligent use of new
genetic material.

METHODS OF GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF
BEES
 Introduction
 Selection
 Crossing between Races & lines
 Breeding programs
 Transgenesis
 Cloning

GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
 Definition - The use of genetic tools in
order to improve the performances of bee
colonies kept in certain Environment for
certain characteristic/s.
 Genetic - The trait will be passed on.
 Environment - The procedures should
take place in a given environment.

BEE IMPROVEMENT
INTRODUCTION
 Importation and distribution of new races,
ecotypes and genotypes.
 In israel we introduced the Apis mellifera
ligustica bees which habsolutely replaced
the local stock of a.m.syriaca

RECENT EXAMPLES OF INTRODUCTION
 Introduction of varroa resistent bees??
 Introduction of gentle bees from other parts of
the world
 Introduction of specific bees for pollination of
certain agricultural crops

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTRODUCTION
Advantages: Very fast results
very cheep and easy
Disadvantages:
 Incompatibility
 Change the natural balance
 Risks of importation of new diseases/pests to the
area.
 Economic crises
 Introduction of a new hazard to the human
population.

SELECTION
 A process of identification of the best colony/ies in a
given environment for a chosen trait.
 In every population there is variation: good and
bad, high and low honey crop etc.
 The population distributed in normal
distribution

THE CLASSIC NORMAL
DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION
95% Of the cases
Honey Production
Frequency

1st year
SELECTION
-3 -2 -  m  2  3 
2nd year 3rd year

SELECTION DIFFERENTIAL-S AND
INTENSITY OF SELECTION-I
 The character is normally distributed
 The selection is by truncation -The individuals are
chosen strictly according the weighted honey
production.
 S/P =i The intensity of selection

SELECTION DIFFERENTIAL AND
INTENSITY OF SELECTION
(a) - 50% selected. STD 2 units(K”G). S=ixP
i from the table for 50% is 0.8
S= 2 units x o.8=1.6 - small

(b) - (20% selected
STD=2 units
i (from the table 20%)=1.4
S=1.4x2units=2.8
s-large


(c) - 20% selected =
std=1 unit
s=1x1.4=1.4 S- small

SELECTION
The Phenotype - The characteristics of
an animal which can be observed.
 The Genotype - The genetic
characteristics of the organism.
Phenotype results from the influence of the
animal’s genetics, the Genotype, and the
environment in which the animal is found and
the interaction between the two factors.

THE SOURCE OF VARIANCE IN THE
POPULATION
Vp= Vg+Ve+Veg
Vp - The phenotypic variation
Vg - The genetic variation
Ve - The environmental variation
Veg - The variation based on the interaction
between the genotype and the environment

THE SOURCE OF VARIANCE IN THE
POPULATION
Enviromental
effect
Interaction
Genetic
Effect

 Definition The biological phenomenon of the
mode of inheritance of a particular trait
A measure of the degree to which a phenotype is
genetically influenced and can be modified by
selection.
Heritability

h2 = Vg/Vp
This proportion represents the ratio of the
genotypic variance to the total or
phenotypic variance. The ratio is 0-1
1 - The source of variation is the genotypic
variance only
0 - The source of variance is the
environment only

GENOTYPIC VARIATION
 Vg = Va+Vd+Vi
Vg - The variation in the genotype
Va - Variance due to additive genetic events.
The variation between the genotypes based on the
accumulation of genes responsible to the
characteristic.
Vd - Variance due to dominance interaction between
genes
Vi - Variance based on epistatic deviation- the
interaction between multiple genes.

THE USE OF H2
 In fact it is difficult to identify the source of
variance. Practically we check it by analysis of
variance and by regression of offspring on one
parent.
 R=ixh2xp/L
R= The expected progress in selection / year
i = The selection proportion(from the table)
h2=0.19-0.54
p=Phenotypic standard deviation
L =1 the length of one generation-one year

AN EXAMPLE - THE CALCULATION OF THE R
- THE PROGRESS IN SELECTION
R=ixh2xp/L
R=? h2 = 0.2
i = The selection
proportion for 20% from the
table 1.4
p =10 kg
L =1

THE ECONOMIC BENEFIT
FROM SELECTION
 An apiary of 600 hives
 After harvesting the honey and weighing the crop
we choose the best 20%-120 hives.
 Each queen will produce 5 daughters.
 Introduction of 600 queens in the apiary
 Assumption-the Environmental conditions both
years are the same.
 R=2.85 K”g /YearX600Hives=1710K”G
 1710X4.5$ K”G=7560$

 The beekeeper can sell more queens
 In case the I=0.1 (10%)
 R= ixh2xp/L
 R=1.75x0.2x10/1 =3.5 K”G
 A lot of extra expenses are involved in such
project such as: High management practices-
more labor (marking queens, colony monthly
check up, weighing the crop, statistics and
analyze data)

LINE BREEDING
 The best outstanding colonies are selected.
 1. Daughters of these queens are mated randomly
in the breeding apiary.
 2. Controlling of drones and the use of isolated
areas.
It causes fixation of characteristics and as a result
the effectiveness of selection is reduced.
The stock loses vigor due to inbreeding .
Homozygous sex alleles resulting poor brood
pattern.

SOLUTIONS
 To keep inbreeding at a minimum, one should
rear queens from large number of outstanding
queens.
 Equal number of daughters from each mother.
 New stock should be introduced to the operation.
 The use of Artificial insemination.

 Maternal and paternal influence
The transmission of resistance to acarine disease
is by the queen.
Maternal influence.
In the case of crossing of Buckfast bees with
syriaca it’s result highly defensive behavior.-
Paternal influence

HYBRID BREEDING
 When inbred lines or races are crossed, the
hybrid progeny often are superior to either
parent for one or many traits.
 The effect of Heterosis- Hybridization for high
hybrid vigor cause more heterozygosity in their
genom .
When ever two distinct races are crossed, an
additional quality of great economic value is
gained.

CLOSED-POPULATION BREEDING
 The objective - To improve the performance of
honey bees by selective breeding while
maintaining high brood viability and genetic
variability in the population.
 There are three basic strategies:
 1. The best 50 colonies are selected and
daughters of these queens will mate in isolation,
with drones from the same 50 colonies.

 2. Each mother queen is replaced by her own
daughters which mate naturally in isolation. In this
case 35 breeder colonies are needed to have 95%
probability of at least 85% viable brood for 20
generations.
 3. Artificial insemination of daughters of the breeding
queens with homogenized semen of drones from the
breeder colonies.
The queens in the productive hives will mate in
isolation with drones from the same breeder
colonies.

RESISTANCE TO BEE DISEASES


Genetic resistance to bee diseases based on
one of the following:
 Phisiological characteristics
Behavioral characteristics
Anatatomy structures
Success in Bee disease improvement in one of these
aspects depends on Variance in the population in
this characteristics.

IMPROVEMENT FOR RESISTANCE AGAINST
VARROA MITE
Introduction of bees which are resistant to Varroa from Siberia to U.S.A
Rinderer et al., 2001. Apidilogie, 32:381-394
 A. cerana -The native bees of the far east are
resistant against varroa
 Most of Apis mellifera races are
susceptible to Varroa. The colonies will
collapse after the invasion and reproduction
of the mite.
(Except the African races)
 The Africanized bees of South America
have an coexcistence balance
 The envasion of Varroa to Israel has
destroyed most of the feral population of

VARROA RESISTANCE MODE OF ACTION
IN APIS MELLIFERA AND A.CERANA
-Grooming behavior- The bees recognize the mite on
the bees and removing them by grooming one another
- Hygienic behavior- The bees recognize sealed
brood cells with mites and remove them
Duration of the post-capping stage- The duration
of the post capping stage affects directly the number of
adult offspring which can develop in the cells.

Attractiveness of brood and adult bees- Brood of
European honey bees are more attractive to varroa
then African brood. The physiological mode of action
is not clear.
Mite fertility -limiting factor - The number of eggs
which are laid by female Varroa mite depends on the
race and species. Low fertility-High chance for
varroa tolerance

IMPROVEMENT OF BEES FOR VARROA RESISTANCE
 Introduction of breeding material
Development of contamination techniques
Development of field techniques Evaluation
of the results
 Selection
Hygienic behavior

BIOLOGY OF AFRICANIZED
VERSUS
EUROPEAN HONEY BEES
 Development is shorter 18-20 versus 21
 Cells diameter is smaller
 Colony growth is rapid /Laying rate is double.
 They produce more honey.
 More active and flying directly into the hive
entrance rather than walking in.
 Extreme defensive behavior.
 High swarming tendency and more swarms.

Thank
you
“I wish all the
beekeepers in
Cyprus happiness
and nice honey crop
"

Bee-breeding and queen rearing-Haim-Efrat.pptx

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