The Effect of Production Method on Local Honeybee Queens, Apis mellifera L. to Determine the Acceptance Rate of Grafted Larvae and Live Weight of Virgin Queens in Latakia Governorate
M. Asaad1*, M. Omran1, N.Z. Hujeij2 and Khalil Makis1
(1) Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tishreen, Latakia, Syria; (2) Plant Protection research Division, General Authority for Scientific Agricultural Research, Syria. *Email of corresponding author: menos.asaad@hotmail.com
Received: 1/6/2023; Accepted: 24/7/2023
https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001239
Abstract
This research was conducted at the Scientific Agricultural Research Center in Latakia during 2020 season to study the effect of queen production method (with and without queens) on the acceptance rate of grafted larvae and weight of virgin queens emerging from local bee colonies under the conditions of the Syrian coast, using wax and plastic cups with dry and wet grafting. The acceptance rate of larvae was 83.33 and 91.66%, and weights of virgin queens were 0.178, 0.198 g in queen rearing colonies with and without queens, respectively, in the wax cups with wet grafting and with a total number of 16 cups/colony, whereas the acceptance rate of larvae was 86.66 and 80.00 % and weights of virgin queens was 0.178 and 0.169 g, respectively, in colonies without or with restricted queens rearing colonies, in the wax cups with wet grafting and a total number of 20 cups/colony. The difference in the average weights of queens in both methods was significant.
Keywords
Colonies with queens, queenless colonies, bees, Latakia, Syria.