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...

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Autores principales: Elena Facchini, Maria Grazia De Iorio, Federica Turri, Flavia Pizzi, Daniela Laurino, Marco Porporato, Rita Rizzi, Giulio Pagnacco
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/e4b3410f3a764a378cce77850fa90083
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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
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