Number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca of honey bee queens inseminated with small doses of semen and kept in an incubator in cages with different numbers of workers

Abstract

Collection of honey bee drone semen is time consuming. For this reason, in mass production honey bee queens are usually inseminated with small doses of semen. Naturally mated queens store in their spermatheca 4 to 7 million sperm cells (5). Therefore, well inseminated instrumentally queens should have also at least 4 million spermatozoa. However Wilde (11) did not observe any differences in the strength of colonies during the entire season and honey production on the brood area and productivity in the colonies with instrumentally inseminated queens with a dose of 8, 4 and only 2 µl of semen. The higher the dose of semen, the higher the number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca but the dose of 8 µl is sufficient (14, 15). However, Bieńkowska et al.(1) received significantly more spermatozoa in queens inseminated with 3, 4 and 6 µl of semen than with 8 µl. Double insemination is more effective. Queens inseminated once have less sperms than those inseminated twice with the same divided dose of semen (1,9,14,15). Gąbka (6) stated that queens inseminated once with 10 µl of semen have similar number of sperms in their spermatheca as those inseminated with 2 × 2 µl but significantly less than those inseminated with 2 × 4 µl of semen. Two inseminations with each dose of 6 µl give even better results than one insemination with 20 µl (15). The access of attendant bees significantly affects the number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca (12,13,16,18). It is best if queens are kept with at least 350 workers after insemination (16,17). The access of workers also affects the clearing of excess semen from oviducts (16). According to Gontarz et al. (8) queens should be keep with attendant bees even before insemination because the period prior to insemination affects condition of their oviducts after insemination. However Wilde (10) did not observe any differences on the brood area and productivity in the colonies with instrumentally inseminated queens kept before and after insemination in different conditions.The aim of this study was to investigate the number of spermatozoa entering the spermatheca of queens Gąbka J., Muszyńska R., Zajdel B.Number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca of honey bee queens inseminated with small doses of semen and kept in an incubator in cages with different numbers of workers SummaryIn mass production, instrumentally inseminated honey bee queens are usually kept in mailing cages with a low number of workers and inseminated with small doses of semen. Inseminated queens should have more than 4 mln sperms in their spermatheca. The aim of this study was to investigate the number of spermatozoa entering the spermatheca of queens inseminated with different small doses of semen. Ninety queens were divided into six groups and inseminated as follows: 1 µl, 2 µl or 3 µl of semen at the age of 7 days and 2 × 1 µl, 2 × 2 µl or 2 × 3 µl at the age of 7 and 9 days. Queens were kept in the mailing cages with 15 or 25 attendant bees before and after instrumental insemination. No significant differences were found i...

Factors, based on common practices, affecting the results of instrumental insemination of honey bee queens

“…We stated there were no significant differences between queens held in small cages with 15 attendant worker bees and those held with 25 workers. The same results were obtained by Gąbka et al (2016). The findings presented here do not show that temperature had an effect on the number of sperm in queen's spermatheca (3.144 million at Different letters indicate significant differences between the means (P < 0.05)…”

“…Many factors influence the number of spermatozoa entered in the spermatheca. These factors include the age of the queen, semen dosage, and the preand post-insemination care of queens (Woyke 1962(Woyke , 1979Mackensen 1964;Woyke and Jasiński 1976, 1979Wilde 1994;Cobey 2007;Bieńkowska et al 2008Bieńkowska et al , 2011Cobey et al 2013;Gąbka et al 2016). During mass production, after insemination, queens are generally kept in mailing cages with a low number of workers.…”

Effect of Time Between Carbon Dioxide Treatments on the Onset of Oviposition in Queen Honey Bees

“…The percent of dead queens after insemination in this experiment (7.8) was similar to the results reported by others (3.3-7.9) (Bieńkowska & Panasiuk, 2006;Chuda-Mickiewicz et al, 2012;Gąbka et al, 2016;Gąbka & Cobey, 2018;Gąbka, 2022). In the experiments by Ebadi & Gary (1980), Kaftanoglu & Peng (1980, 1982 and Moritz & Kühnert (1984), the mortality rates were higher (16-35%).…”