The loss of honey bees has drawn a large amount of attention in various countries. Therefore, the development of efficient methods for recovering honey bee populations has been a priority for beekeepers. Here we present an extended literature review and report on personal communications relating to the characterization of the local and bred stock of honey bees in the Russian Federation. New types have been bred from local colonies (A. mellifera L., A. m. carpatica Avet., A. m. caucasia Gorb.). The main selection traits consist of a strong ability for overwintering, disease resistance and different aptitudes for nectar collection in low and high blooming seasons. These honey bees were certified by several methods: behavioral, morphometric and genetic analysis. We illustrate the practical experience of scientists, beekeepers and breeders in breeding A. mellifera Far East honey bees with Varroa and tracheal mite resistance, which were the initial reasons for breeding the A. mellifera Far Eastern breed by Russian breeders, Russian honey bee in America, the hybrid honey bee in Canada by American breeders, and in China by Chinese beekeepers. The recent achievements of Russian beekeepers may lead to the recovery of beekeeping areas suffering from crossbreeding and losses of honey bee colonies.
The article provides the results of 2016-2018 study of morphogenetic markers in honey bees producing royal jelly with different content of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). Working bees and royal jelly from Kirov region, Tomsk region, and Krasnodar Krai were used as the material for the research. Evaluation of honey bee origin was carried out according to morphometric and phenotypic characteristics with population and genetic analysis using PCR method with assessment of the intergenic locus COI-CОII mtDNA, microsatellite locus mrjp3. It has been established that honey bees having larger size of the abdomen (with the width of the third tergite and sternite of 4.8 and 4.7 mm, respectively) produced royal jelly with a higher content of 10-HDA (more than 3.0%), that is 1.2-1.4 times higher (P≤0.05). Working bees having yellowness on tergites produced royal jelly with 13.7% lower concentration of 10-HDA (P≤0.05) compared to the bees with no yellowness in the phenotype. Honey bees with locus mtDNA – PQQ or PQQQ in the genotype produced royal jelly with 10-HDA concentration on the average 38% higher (p≤0.01) than bees in genotype of which mtDNA – Q locus had been recorded. The change of 10-HDA concentration in royal jelly of honey bees having different allele registration frequency in the mrjp3 locus has been established. Maximum concentrated 10-HDA (3.45%) was recorded in the bees with domination of allele 392 with frequency R≥0,38 in the mrjp3 locus. Minimum 10-HDA content (2.39%) was observed in bees with domination of allele 406 registration frequency in the mrjp3 locus. Honey bees with domination of alleles 485 and 518 in the mrjp3 locus had no significant differences of 10-HDA content in royal jelly at 3.0% and 2.8% indexes respectively.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.