Defensividade, higiene, produção de própolis e mel com duas gerações de Apis mellifera

Abstract

This research aims to quantify the production of propolis and honey, hygienic and defensive behavior, to estimate the correlation between them and their heritabilities in colonies of Apis mellifera. At the beginning of the experiment, 30 Langstroth model beehives were used, installed in apiaries located in different districts of the city of Marechal Candido Rondon. Propolis (scraping of the collector apis flora) and honey were collected, and the following behaviors were observed: defensive (black ball) and hygienic (drilling of offspring). Among the 30 colonies, the 10 that produced more honey and propolis were selected. From these colonies, honeycombs with 1 to 3 days offspring were removed and performed transfer to produce queens, originating the F1 generation. After 15 days, the queens were transferred to colonies that were receiving orphan and installed in the UNIOESTE experimental farm. The same tests mentioned above and bimonthly mappings were performed, which allowed to estimate the areas of food (honey and pollen) and offsprings (egg, larva and pupa). For the defensive behavior test: time to occur the first bite, the time of settlement and the amount of bite were evaluated. The T test was applied in order to compare averages, and the correlations between these characteristics and heritability were estimated. As for the correlation, in the parental generation characteristics was positively correlated: time for agglomeration to occur the first bite and production of honey in hygienic behavior. The characteristics with negative correlation were: production of honey in quantity and time to occur the first bite, sting amount with time of agglomeration, the hygienic behavior with time to occur the first bite, and production of honey with the production of propolis. In the F1 generation, there was a positive correlation between the variables: time for agglomeration with time to occur the first bite, time of agglomeration with areas of egg, larva and pupa, and areas of pupa of with time to occur the first bite and the amount of stings. There was a negative correlation between amount of bite with time to occur the first bite and with time of agglomeration, and between the areas of egg-larva with areas of pollen. The highest heritabilities were: production of propolis (0.87), time to occur the first bite (0.87) and time to settlement (0.84) were highest heritability found. It was concluded that the selectable characteristics with high heritability were output of propolis and the variables of defensive behavior