Evaluation of Hygienic Behaviour in Different Status of Managed Honey Bee Colonies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Plant Protection and Molecular Diagnosis dept., Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), Alexandria 21934, Egypt.

2 Zoology and Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

3 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

4 Apiculture dep. Plant Protection Research Institute, Agri. Research Center Egypt

5 Department of Agricultural Botany, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

Hygienic behaviour is a desirable trait in honey bees and involves the detection of diseased, infected broods and their quick removal from the nest by worker honey bees. The pin-killed test and gene expressions of five primers for hygienic behaviour using Real-Time PCR were used to compare colonies from swarming, queen-less colonies, and dividing headed by a queen unifying the beekeeping process, colony strength, and genetic origin of the three types of studying nuclei and returning the hygienic behaviour differentiation to the colonies' population status. Our findings revealed that the removal of dead broods in swarming colonies was significantly higher than that of both dividing colonies headed by queen and queen-less dividing colonies. Swarming colonies exhibiting different rates of hygienic behaviour using pin killed test (HB %) correlated with its different genetic structures using gene expression. We recommend that this trait be considered in queen-rearing programs and that hives be left to swarm, which is a stimulant and promotes the genes of hygienic behaviour inductions associated with swarming.

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Alexandria Science Exchange Journal
Volume 45, Issue 3
The Third Scientific Forum for Egyptian Entomologists (Insects in Our Life)
October 2024
Pages 11-20

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