engleski

Towards the development of international standard recommendations for breeding honey bees including characters of colony vitality

The experimental approach consists of a common experiment to reveal interactions between the genetic origin of the bees, the environment and pathogens. To this end, a total of 670 colonies from 17 different genetic origins have been set up in 16 locations across Europe, where each location contains the local strain of bees together with two “foreign” origins. The colonies have uniformly been set up in the summer of 2009 and will be managed and evaluated according to a protocol that has been agreed upon by all participants. Standard methods to assess the colony strength and the level of Varroa infestation within the experiment have been suggested and discussed. One of the aims of the experiment is to adapt and validate the methods in the respective local conditions of each participant. International breeding recommendations including characters related to colony vitality will be designed, consisting of both the theoretical framework and technical and methodological aspects. The existing subspecies and ecotypes of honey bees in Europe represent an important resource for breeding of disease and stress resistant strains. Anecdotal evidence suggests that locally adapted strains of bees suffer less from colony losses than non native bees. Several methods are being used to characterize European honey bee populations and much information has been collected over the years. One of our aims is to create a published and accessible reference data base that will be of use to scientists and apiculturalist wishing to study and conserve European honey bee biodiversity.

Colony strength; Varroa infestation; International breeding recommendations; vitality; European honey bee populations

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