Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits

The quality of the honeybee queen has an important effect on a colony’s development, productivity, and survival. Queen failure or loss is considered a leading cause for colonies’ mortality worldwide. The queen’s quality, resulting from her genetic background, developmental conditions, mating success...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:

Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux:	Elena Facchini, Maria Grazia De Iorio, Federica Turri, Flavia Pizzi, Daniela Laurino, Marco Porporato, Rita Rizzi, Giulio Pagnacco
Format:	article
Langue:	EN
Publié:	MDPI AG 2021
Sujets:	honeybee queen bee breeding morphological traits reproductive traits heritability genetic parameters Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991
Accès en ligne:	https://doaj.org/article/e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa90083
Tags:	Ajouter un tag Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa90083
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa900832021-11-25T16:14:13ZInvestigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits10.3390/ani111130542076-2615https://doaj.org/article/e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa900832021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3054https://doaj.org/toc/2076-2615The quality of the honeybee queen has an important effect on a colony’s development, productivity, and survival. Queen failure or loss is considered a leading cause for colonies’ mortality worldwide. The queen’s quality, resulting from her genetic background, developmental conditions, mating success, and environment, can be assessed by some morphological measures. The study aims to investigate variability for traits that could assess the quality of the queen. Related animals were enrolled in this study. Variance components were estimated fitting a mixed animal model to collected data. Heritabilities of body and tagmata weights ranged from 0.46 to 0.54, whereas lower estimates were found for the tagmata width and wing length. Heritabilities estimated for the spermatheca diameter and volume, number of ovarioles, and number of sperms were 0.17, 0.88, 0.70, and 0.57, respectively. Many phenotypic correlations related to size were high and positive, while weak correlations were found between morphology and reproductive traits. Introducing a queen’s traits in a selection program could improve colonies’ survivability. Further research should focus on better defining the correlations between the individual qualities of a queen and her colony’s performance.Elena FacchiniMaria Grazia De IorioFederica TurriFlavia PizziDaniela LaurinoMarco PorporatoRita RizziGiulio PagnaccoMDPI AGarticlehoneybee queenbee breedingmorphological traitsreproductive traitsheritabilitygenetic parametersVeterinary medicineSF600-1100ZoologyQL1-991ENAnimals, Vol 11, Iss 3054, p 3054 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	honeybee queen bee breeding morphological traits reproductive traits heritability genetic parameters Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991
spellingShingle	honeybee queen bee breeding morphological traits reproductive traits heritability genetic parameters Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 Elena Facchini Maria Grazia De Iorio Federica Turri Flavia Pizzi Daniela Laurino Marco Porporato Rita Rizzi Giulio Pagnacco Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
description	The quality of the honeybee queen has an important effect on a colony’s development, productivity, and survival. Queen failure or loss is considered a leading cause for colonies’ mortality worldwide. The queen’s quality, resulting from her genetic background, developmental conditions, mating success, and environment, can be assessed by some morphological measures. The study aims to investigate variability for traits that could assess the quality of the queen. Related animals were enrolled in this study. Variance components were estimated fitting a mixed animal model to collected data. Heritabilities of body and tagmata weights ranged from 0.46 to 0.54, whereas lower estimates were found for the tagmata width and wing length. Heritabilities estimated for the spermatheca diameter and volume, number of ovarioles, and number of sperms were 0.17, 0.88, 0.70, and 0.57, respectively. Many phenotypic correlations related to size were high and positive, while weak correlations were found between morphology and reproductive traits. Introducing a queen’s traits in a selection program could improve colonies’ survivability. Further research should focus on better defining the correlations between the individual qualities of a queen and her colony’s performance.
format	article
author	Elena Facchini Maria Grazia De Iorio Federica Turri Flavia Pizzi Daniela Laurino Marco Porporato Rita Rizzi Giulio Pagnacco
author_facet	Elena Facchini Maria Grazia De Iorio Federica Turri Flavia Pizzi Daniela Laurino Marco Porporato Rita Rizzi Giulio Pagnacco
author_sort	Elena Facchini
title	Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
title_short	Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
title_full	Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
title_fullStr	Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
title_full_unstemmed	Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits
title_sort	investigating genetic and phenotypic variability of queen bees: morphological and reproductive traits
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa90083
work_keys_str_mv	AT elenafacchini investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT mariagraziadeiorio investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT federicaturri investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT flaviapizzi investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT danielalaurino investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT marcoporporato investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT ritarizzi investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits AT giuliopagnacco investigatinggeneticandphenotypicvariabilityofqueenbeesmorphologicalandreproductivetraits
_version_	1718413287799914496

Investigating Genetic and Phenotypic Variability of Queen Bees: Morphological and Reproductive Traits

Documents similaires