In a message dated 08/08/2008 03:00:08 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I was  not thinking of a breeding programme specifically aimed at DWV, or any 
 
other virus for that matter.  In assessing colonies I score them for  a large 
number of things, e.g. sacbrood, chalkbrood, deformed wings,  paralysis, 
tolerance of wax moth, as well as for temper and  productivity.


At  recent lecture from Sue Cobey (who knows a thing or two about  selective 
breeding) she stressed how important it is to have a wide gene pool  and not 
to select for a particular characteristic as too much genetic material  will be 
lost. You end up with otherwise useless bees which are - in your example  - 
resistant to DWV.
 
She suggests (if I can decipher my scrawled notes) selecting for maybe  7 
traits and scoring each colony 0-5 for each of the desired traits. Multiply  the 
numbers together to highlight the outstanding ones (and, by extension, those  
to be culled).
 
Chris



   

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