The effects of altitude and rearing period on some characteristics of honey bee queens, Apis mellifera caucasica Gorbachev, 1916 (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Authors : Nazlı CANVERDİ, Gonca ÖZMEN ÖZBAKIR, Soner ÇANKAYA, Muzaffer DUMAN, Ümit KAYABOYNU, Fatih YILMAZ, Hasan ESE, Belgin GÜNBEY

Pages : 295-306

Doi:10.16970/entoted.1207868

View : 53 | Download : 56

Publication Date : 2023-10-09

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In the study, some characteristics of honey bee queens, Apis mellifera caucasica Gorbachev, 1916 insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Hymenoptera: Apidae);, reared at two different altitudes insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(140 m vs 920 m); and three rearing seasons insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(May, June-I, June-II); in 2019-2020 were examined in Ordu. These are larvae grafting, length of the queen cell, weight of queens at various periods, and spermathecae parameters of queens. One-day old 50 larvae were grafted at each period and altitude. The effect of period and period*altitude interaction on the weight at emergence of queen was significant insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p<0.001); while the effect of altitude and year was nonsignificant. Weights at emergence of queens were lower in May at high altitudes and in June-II at low altitudes. The effects of year, period and altitude were significant insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p<0.001); in the terms of the diameter and volume of the spermathecae, and the number of spermatozoa in the spermathecae. When the two-year data was evaluated together, the number of spermatozoa in the spermathecae was higher in the queen bees reared in May. It is recommended to pay attention to the period and altitude when pollen and nectar flow is intense in queen rearing in Ordu and similar climatic conditions.
Keywords : Bal arısı, ana arı, yetiştirme dönemi, sperm kesesi, sperm sayısı