Feeding stimulates functional abilities of queen bees of the Carpathian subspecies

The researches were conductedon queen bees of the Carpathian subspecies in conditions of Tajikistan. Four groups of similar families were formed, 10 in each group. In the control group, sugar syrup (1:2) was given as a stimulating feeding, in small portions of 700 ml. Bees of the first experimental group were fed with the sugar syrup, with the addition of drone larvas’ homogenate. The second group was fed with the sugar syrup with addition of a feed mixture “Similak”, the third group - sugar syrup with the addition of a compositional form consisting of a feed mixture “Similak” and the drone larvas’ homogenate. In the experimental groups, in contrast to the control group, an increase in the egg production of queen bees and the brood breeding reflex by 1.3-1.44 times was found.In general, it has been established that to stimulate the physiological processes in bee’ organism, growth and development of colonies in spring, it is necessary to use stimulating feeding by sugar syrup in combination with drone larvas’ homogenate and feed mixture “Similak” 700 ml each.

THE QUALITY OF BEE QUEENS OBTAINED BY DIFFERENT METHODS

Honeybees can only live and work in a bee colony. There is normally only one queen bee in a standard bee colony. It is the family's only fully matured female and the mother of young queen, drone, and worker bees. When a bee colony loses its queen bee and is unable to reproduce a new one, it eventually dies. Timely change of queen bees every 2 years, as well as increasing and maintaining the strength of bee colonies are the main zootechnical measures to maintain optimal life of bees and get the maximum amount of products from them. The presence of the queen bee in the bee family of honey bees fully influences their flight activity in collecting bee pollen. In its absence, the harvesting of pollen and its processing, as well as the extraction of wax and the construction of honeycombs, the cultivation of brood, and the collection of nectar are significantly slowed down and then completely stopped. With the advent of the uterus, all the functions of the family as a whole biological system are restored. Therefore, the quality of queens is a determining factor in the viability and productivity of the bee colony. The aim of the study was to compare the quality of reproductive function of queen bees of Apis mellifera sossimai and Apis mellifera carpatica breeds in different ways of obtaining them, and the impact on productivity of the bee colony. To carry out experimental work in the apiary, three control groups and two experimental groups were formed, with nine bee colonies in each group. In the first group, the queen bees were artificially breeded from the nursery, in the second group - fistulous queens bees, and in the third - the swarm queen bees. The apiary is situated on a 50-50 meter plot of land. Hives are used to keep bee colonies. Bees are kept in the apiary of the Ukrainian field breed. A pollinating honey area is available at the apiary. A winter house, a mobile vehicle, and a suitable chamber for honey pumping are all available at the apiary. Mustard is sown around the apiary every year. According to the study, big full-fledged queen bees are born in a healthy, physiologically complete bee colony. When the strength of a bee colony was increased, the queen bees were born 30 mg lighter. The number of fallopian tubes of queen bees raised with a biological integrity breach is 185,1 ± 7,3, while the number of fallopian tubes of queen bees raised with biological integrity is 207,6 ± 7,4. If the bees bring nectar and pollen during the breeding process, the queen bees are born huge, but without the forage а little and with poor executive abilities. It makes no difference how strong the foraging is; even 200 – 300 g of nectar and pollen per day has a positive impact on the quality of queen bees produced. Fistula uteruses had higher egg production compared to swarms in the same conditions of colony development.

Effect of different queen cell sizes on the acceptance of grafted larvae in Apis cerana javana Fabr. Rearing

This study aims to evaluate Apis cerana javana Fabr. rearing based on differences in the queen cup sizes. A total of four queen bees were used with three different treatments and six replications, meanwhile, this study was conducted at Kembang Joyo Bee Farm, Malang, East Java. The results showed that the differences in the queen cup size had no significant effect on the success rate of queen rearing (p>0.05). The highest percentage of larvae acceptance (79%) was found in P3 treatment, followed by P2 (71%), while the lowest was found in P1 (63%). Furthermore, the highest percentage of larvae to pupae metamorphosis was found in P1 and P2 with a success rate of 100%, while the lowest was found in P3 with 89%. The highest percentage of pupae emergence was found in treatment P1 and P2 with a success rate of 100% and P3 with 94%. Based on the results, the difference queen cup sizes had no significant effect on the success rate of Apis cerana javana Fabr. rearing.

Effective ways of keeping queen bees before and after instrumental insemination

The article presents theoretical and experimental data on the results of the instrumental insemination and alimentation of queen bees. Queen bees were bred and inseminated. It has been established that when using various methods of keeping queen bees, a dynamic pattern is observed when there is safekeeping of queen bees. So, in 2019, before insemination in all experimental groups, the death of 1 to 4 infertile queens was observed. The highest indicator was recorded in the first experimental group; this is due to the fact that there were not enough young bees in the transfer cells to fully feed the infertile queen. In 2020, when using various methods of keeping queen bees before and after insemination, a similar pattern is observed with respect to the safety of queen bees. In a comparative aspect, before and after insemination, a high death rate of queens was recorded in the I-experimental group - 4 pcs, respectively fetal - 16 pcs. Whereas in the II-experimental and IV-experimental groups, the safest keeping of 18-19 queens was recorded respectively. Whereas in 2021, the greatest safety of fetal queen bees was in the IV-experimental group - 90%, and in the II-experimental and III-experimental groups, 85% each in comparison with the I-experimental group - 75%. Consequently, when using the method of keeping infertile queens in the transfer cells with accompanying bees, 5 pieces each, there is a high death rate of queen bees. It was also confirmed that the method of keeping queens in a nursery frame without accompanying bees is less effective compared to the method of keeping queens in a nursery frame without accompanying bees. Also, when obtaining fetal queens by instrumental insemination, attention should be focused on phenotypic indicators when selecting infertile queens, since the size of the queen bee is directly correlated with the number of egg tubes and, accordingly, affects the egg production of the fetal queen bee.

The influence of feed additives on the acceptance and quality of queen bees

Currently, many scientists have proven the positive influence of feed additives on the productivity of different types of farm animals including bees since feed additives have a positive effect on the honey productivity of bee colonies and the quality of queen bees. The purpose of our work was to identify the effect of probiotics on the background of the dietary supplement Eracond on the acceptance of larvae and the weight of infertile queens. The scientific and economic experiment has been carried out on bees of Bashkir breed in an apiary located in the village of Nekrasovka in the Kartalinsky district in the Chelyabinsk region. Three groups of queen-rearing colony have been formed three in each. In the 2nd and 3rd experimental groups against the background of dietary supplement Erakond (50 mg/ kg) have been given: in the 2nd experimental group sugar syrup with Lactobacterin three doses per family, in the 3rd experimental group sugar syrup with Vetom 1,1 at the dose of 50 mg/kg. As a result, all the additives in the 2nd and 3rd experimental groups gave a positive result. The greatest effect on all indicators has been obtained with the combined use of 50 % sugar syrup with the addition of Eracond phytopreparation (50 mg/kg) and Vetom 1,1 probiotic (50 mg/kg). Feeding these drugs to queen rearing colonies contributed to the increase in the acceptance of larvae by 23,3 %, compared with the control and by 7,8 % compared with the 2nd experimental group, also had the positive influence on the weight of infertile queens by 11,4 % compared with the control group. The use of Vetom and Eracond contributed to the increase in the egg production of queens by 64,2, 54,9 and 57,0 % compared with the control for three accounting periods as well as the increase in the honey collection by 33,83 % or 4,5 kg.

The Italian National Beekeeping Registry (BDNA) as a Tool to Identify Areas Suitable for Controlled Mating of Honey Bees in Italy

Honey bee mating is difficult to control as it occurs in flight, several kilometers away from the hive of origin of both queens and drones. In recent years, there has been an increase in the introduction into Italy of queen bees and swarms originating from interracial crossings (especially those known as “Buckfast”), or belonging to non-native subspecies. Consequently, there is a strong need to establish areas suitable for controlled mating. The Italian national beekeeping registry (BDNA) has been recently set up to monitor the position of apiaries and movement of hives, with the purpose of economic and sanitary protection and improvement of bee heritage and food safety. The BDNA was, thus, deemed a suitable tool to explore the availability of areas that could be used as mating stations. Specific criteria, such as not be classified as wetlands, altitude below 1500 m a.s.l., distance of at least 6000 m from an apiary, and distance of at least 1500 m from the national terrestrial border, were selected for defining the mating stations. Furthermore, all the remaining Italian national territory was considered suitable for settlement of mating stations, including towns, industrial settlements, and roads. Based on these criteria, the following methodological framework was applied: (1) collection of the required data (i.e., apiaries coordinates, geospatial data on soil classification, geospatial data on terrain altitude, Italian boundary geospatial data); (2) calculation for the excluded areas according with the criteria listed above; (3) calculation of the mating areas by means of the difference between the entire Italian territory and the excluded areas. The database of BDNA was used to identify them. Appropriate databases and software were used to exclude the areas of the Italian national territory that did not fulfill the established criteria. In this paper, we report the procedure applied to identify on maps the areas suitable for controlled mating of queen bees in the Italian national territory based on data currently available in the BDNA.

Organ-specific transcriptome analysis reveals differential gene expression in different castes under natural conditions in Apis cerana

Honeybees are one of the most environmentally important insects, as their pollination of various plant species contributes to the balance among different ecosystems. It has been studied extensively for their unique attribute of forming a caste society. Unlike other insects, honeybees communicate socially by secreting pheromones or by exhibiting specific patterns of motion. In the honeybee industry, the Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) and the Western honeybees (Apis mellifera) are dominant species. However, molecular research on the transcriptomes of A. cerana has not been studied as extensively as those of A. mellifera. Therefore, in this study, caste-specific transcriptional differences were analyzed, which provides a comprehensive analysis of A. cerana. In our dataset, we analyzed gene expression profiles using organs from worker, drone, and queen bees. This gene-expression profile helped us obtain more detailed information related to organ-specific genes, immune response, detoxification mechanisms, venom-specific genes, and ovary development. From our result, we found 4096 transcripts representing different gene-expression pattern in each organ. Our results suggest that caste-specific transcripts of each organ were expressed differently even under natural conditions. These transcriptome-wide analyses provide new insights into A. cerana and that promote honeybee research and conservation.

METHODS OF REPLANTING QUEEN BEES TRANSLATORS

На підставі літературних джерел подано історичний досвід та способи підсадки бджолиних маток. Висвітлено основні та найбільш поширені в бджільницькій практиці способи підсадки бджолиних маток, вказано на чинники, що впливають на ефективність приймання маток бджолосім’ями. Ключові слова: бджолина матка, кліточка, спосіб підсадки, ізолятор, осиротіння, маточник, ароматизація, льоток.

The morpho-ethological characteristics of honey bees Apis mellifera L. of Perm region

The European dark bees (Apis mellifera mellifera L.) divided into many populations occupying a wide range and living in different climatic zones. The research of morphological features of all castes of bee colony, and the description of their ethological features makes it possible to more fully characterize and distinguish a particular group of bees. The aim of the research was to describe the main morphological and some ethological features of queen artificial reproduction, drones, and worker of the European dark bees of the Perm region. Methods. The research was carried out on one of the breeding apiaries of the Perm region on colony of the European dark bees. Morphometric studies were performed according to the standard technique with the use of computer technology. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the morphological and ethological characteristics of honeybees of the Perm region are described most fully. Also experimental study was carried out on the use of a new technology for reproduction of virgin queen bees. Research results and practical significance. In the long-term dynamics, it is shown that the main breed-defining morphometric and ethological characteristics of the studied individuals of all castes of the colony of bee belong to the European dark breed. The results obtained can be used in the identification of bees in the Permian population and the implementation of the selection process in apiaries in the region. New method of artificial breeding of virgin queens allowed to obtain queens corresponding to the standard of the European dark bees and can be applied in practical breeding. Observations were made on the flight activity of drones and flight timing of virgin queen bees, the results of which can be used in practice in the process of obtaining mated queens.