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

Received: 24 June 2020     Accepted: 6 August 2020     Published: 13 August 2020
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Abstract

Human management and selective breeding are believed to improve many economically important strains of a given honeybee population to benefit the beekeepers. Selective breeding is supposed to be a promising way to estimate value of stock improvement elsewhere, though it is not a common practice in our local honeybees. Thus, to evaluate, select and maintain the best performing stock of local honeybee colonies based on different performance parameters, we obtained 120 honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera bandasii from local beekeepers within traditional hives and transferred into movable frame hive at two apiaries. All the transferred colonies were managed properly to establish themselves and acquire uniform strength. At each of the two sites 50 colonies with similar resources (brood, nectar and pollen) and colony strengths were selected and maintained under continues follow-ups for data collections. The colonies were evaluated for different parameters such as brood development, brood solidness, hygienic behavior and honey yield. The results of the study indicated that honeybee colonies after selection showed significant differences in brood solidness, hygienic behaviors and honey yield compared to honeybee’s population before selection. This study revealed a 42% increment in honey yield only due to selecting and rearing of queens from the best performing lines. Moreover, brood quality (solidness) and hygienic behavior of local honeybee colonies were significantly improved from 86.6 to 94.3% and 86.0% to 91.2% due to selection. From this practical point of view, it is possible to conclude that there is a possibility of improving the production performance of native stock through selection and breeding of maternal lines.

Published in Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering (Volume 8, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11
Page(s) 42-46
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Apis mellifera bandasii, Honeybee, Brood Rearing, Hygienic Behavior, Stock Improvement

References
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[6] Collins, A. M., Rinderer, T. E., Harbo, J. R., and Brown, M. A. (1984). Heritabilities and correlations for several characters in the honey bee. J. Hered. 75, 135–140. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a109888.
[7] Delaplane, K. S., Steen, J. van der, and Guzman-Novoa, E. (2013). “Standard methods for estimating strength parameters of Apis mellifera colonies,” in The COLOSS BEEBOOK, Volume I: standard methods for Apis mellifera research, eds. V. Dietemann, J. D. Ellis, and P. Neumann (Journal of Apicultural Research 52 (1)), 1–12. doi: 10.3896/IBRA/1.52.1.03.
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[9] Güler, A., and Toy, H. (2013). Relationship between dead pupa removal and season and productivity of honey bee (Apis mellifera, Hymenoptera : Apidae) colonies. Turkish J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 37, 462–467. doi: 10.3906/vet-1205-48.
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[12] Lee, K. V., Goblirsch, M., McDermott, E., Tarpy, D. R., and Spivak, M. (2019). Is the Brood Pattern within a Honey Bee Colony a Reliable Indicator of Queen Quality? Insects 10, 12. doi: 10.3390/insects10010012.
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[18] Taha, E.-K. (2007). Importance of banana Musa sp. (Musaceae) for honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera : Apidae) in Egypt. Bull. Entomol. Soc. Egypt 2, 125–133.
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  • APA Style

    Taye Negera, Zewudu Ararso, Kibebew Wakjira. (2020). Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia. Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering, 8(3), 42-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11

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    ACS Style

    Taye Negera; Zewudu Ararso; Kibebew Wakjira. Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia. Adv. BioSci. Bioeng. 2020, 8(3), 42-46. doi: 10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11

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    AMA Style

    Taye Negera, Zewudu Ararso, Kibebew Wakjira. Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia. Adv BioSci Bioeng. 2020;8(3):42-46. doi: 10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11,
      author = {Taye Negera and Zewudu Ararso and Kibebew Wakjira},
      title = {Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia},
      journal = {Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering},
      volume = {8},
      number = {3},
      pages = {42-46},
      doi = {10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.abb.20200803.11},
      abstract = {Human management and selective breeding are believed to improve many economically important strains of a given honeybee population to benefit the beekeepers. Selective breeding is supposed to be a promising way to estimate value of stock improvement elsewhere, though it is not a common practice in our local honeybees. Thus, to evaluate, select and maintain the best performing stock of local honeybee colonies based on different performance parameters, we obtained 120 honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera bandasii from local beekeepers within traditional hives and transferred into movable frame hive at two apiaries. All the transferred colonies were managed properly to establish themselves and acquire uniform strength. At each of the two sites 50 colonies with similar resources (brood, nectar and pollen) and colony strengths were selected and maintained under continues follow-ups for data collections. The colonies were evaluated for different parameters such as brood development, brood solidness, hygienic behavior and honey yield. The results of the study indicated that honeybee colonies after selection showed significant differences in brood solidness, hygienic behaviors and honey yield compared to honeybee’s population before selection. This study revealed a 42% increment in honey yield only due to selecting and rearing of queens from the best performing lines. Moreover, brood quality (solidness) and hygienic behavior of local honeybee colonies were significantly improved from 86.6 to 94.3% and 86.0% to 91.2% due to selection. From this practical point of view, it is possible to conclude that there is a possibility of improving the production performance of native stock through selection and breeding of maternal lines.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Selection and Performance Evaluation of Local Honeybee (Apis mellifera bandasii) for Stock Improvement in Ethiopia
    AU  - Taye Negera
    AU  - Zewudu Ararso
    AU  - Kibebew Wakjira
    Y1  - 2020/08/13
    PY  - 2020
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11
    T2  - Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering
    JF  - Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering
    JO  - Advances in Bioscience and Bioengineering
    SP  - 42
    EP  - 46
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-4162
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.abb.20200803.11
    AB  - Human management and selective breeding are believed to improve many economically important strains of a given honeybee population to benefit the beekeepers. Selective breeding is supposed to be a promising way to estimate value of stock improvement elsewhere, though it is not a common practice in our local honeybees. Thus, to evaluate, select and maintain the best performing stock of local honeybee colonies based on different performance parameters, we obtained 120 honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera bandasii from local beekeepers within traditional hives and transferred into movable frame hive at two apiaries. All the transferred colonies were managed properly to establish themselves and acquire uniform strength. At each of the two sites 50 colonies with similar resources (brood, nectar and pollen) and colony strengths were selected and maintained under continues follow-ups for data collections. The colonies were evaluated for different parameters such as brood development, brood solidness, hygienic behavior and honey yield. The results of the study indicated that honeybee colonies after selection showed significant differences in brood solidness, hygienic behaviors and honey yield compared to honeybee’s population before selection. This study revealed a 42% increment in honey yield only due to selecting and rearing of queens from the best performing lines. Moreover, brood quality (solidness) and hygienic behavior of local honeybee colonies were significantly improved from 86.6 to 94.3% and 86.0% to 91.2% due to selection. From this practical point of view, it is possible to conclude that there is a possibility of improving the production performance of native stock through selection and breeding of maternal lines.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Ethiopia

  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Ethiopia

  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Ethiopia

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