Summary — Apis cerana F, colonies responded with effective removal behavior towards sealed worker brood that was artificially infested with vital of dead Varroa jacobsoni Oud. The bees removed artificially infested drone brood to a very low extent. A cerana workers showed a differential hygienic behavior towards freeze killed sealed brood, consisting of fast removal of dead worker and slow removal of dead drone brood. The V jacobsoni populations infesting A cerana colonies in South Thailand were determined by acaricide treatment. A maximum infestation with 798 mites was ascertained.Apis cerana / Varroa-resistance / hygienic behavior / natural infestation / Thailand
The hygienic behaviour of the honey bees is considered to be a potential characteristic associated with resistance to Varroa destructor n.sp. In this study the heritability of the hygienic behaviour of Apis mellifera L. bees was estimated on the basis of the mother±daughter regression. Data were obtained from measurements of the bees' hygienic behaviour towards V. destructor-infested cells and towards pin-killed sealed brood. The heritability for the hygienic behaviour towards V. destructorinfested brood cells was h 2 0.18 (+ 0.27) and h 2 0.36 (+ 0.30) for the hygienic behaviour towards dead brood cells. The repeatability was likewise higher for the pin-killed brood assay (W 0.46) compared with the assay using living mites-infested brood cells (W 0.24). The genetic correlation between the behavioural responses to either the mite-infested or pin-killed brood cells was calculated to be r g 0.61 (+ 0.51) and the phenotypic correlation to be r p 0.11 (p 0.28, n 100). Since hygienic colonies demonstrate resistance to brood diseases such as American foulbrood and chalkbrood, it may be worthwhile to intensify the expression of the hygienic behaviour through selective breeding and thus strengthen these potential characteristics associated with resistance to V. destructor in honey bee stock.
ZusammenfassungHeritabilita È t des Varroa-spezi®schen Hygieneverhaltens der Honigbienen (Hymenoptera:Apidae) Dem Hygieneverhalten der Honigbienen wird als potentieller Varroa-Toleranzfaktor besondere Beachtung geschenkt. In dieser Untersuchung wurde ± auf der Basis der Mutter-Tochter-Regression ± die Heritabilita Èt des Hygieneverhaltens von Apis mellifera L. ermittelt. Als Datengrundlage dienten Quanti®zierungen des Hygieneverhaltens der Bienen gegenu È ber mit Varroa destructor n.sp. in®zierter und gegenu È ber toter (`genadelte') gedeckelter Bienenbrut. Der daraus ermittelte Heritabilita Ètswert lag fu È r das Hygieneverhalten gegenu È ber mit Varroamilben in®zierter Brut bei h 2 0.18 ( + 0.27) und bei h 2 0.36 (+ 0.30) fu È r das Hygieneverhalten gegenu È ber toter Brut. Auch die Wiederholbarkeit war a Èhnlich ho È her bei dem Hygieneverhalten gegenu È ber toter Brut (W 0.46) im Vergleich zu W 0.24 ermittelt am Hygieneverhalten der Bienen gegenu È ber experimentell mit lebenden Milben in®zierten Brutzellen. Die genetische Korrelation zwischen diesen Verhaltensreaktionen wurde als r g 0.61 (+ 0.51) errechnet und die pha Ènotypische Korrelation als r p 0.11 (p 0.28, n 100). Da hygienischen Bienenvo È lkern eine erho È hte Widerstandsfa Èhigkeit gegenu È ber Amerikanischer Faulbrut und der Kalkbrut zugesprochen wird, erscheint es lohnenswert das Hygieneverhalten durch Selektion zu fo È rdern, um so auch diesen potentiellen Varroatoleranz-Parameter bei den Honigbienen zu sta Èrken. U.S.
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