Dear Bee- L members:

Aaron Said:

 "Growing queens is easy.  Breeding and mating superior queens is at least
an art".
Aaron, you hit the nail on the head. AMEN....AMEN.

The main difference between Open Mating and controlled mating is " How
soon would you like to integrate desirable genes into the bee population
and for how long you want to maintain this stock". Each system has
desirable features and undesirable features.  To get the best of both
systems, Page and Laidlaw designed the closed breeding system (CBS). In
this system, there are at least 25 families that are used for establishing
a population. Thus, the majority of sex alleles and the heterogeneity will
be maintained to reduce any inbreeding effects for about 25 years (If you
want 50 years you establish 50 families).  The CBS is maintained by
isolation of mating. Within the population you can select for desirable
traits (Hygienic, SMR, HBTracheal mite resistance, honey production,
wintering,...etc. )to progressively improve the performance of bees while
maintaining high brood viability over the life time of the program.

There are few programs that used the CBS. One of them is the New World
Carniolan by Sue Cobey. The honey production program in Alberta in the
1980's by Tibor Szabo used the CBS. Ontario breeding program in the 90's
is following the same principles (Medhat Nasr), but we allowed
introduction of new genes as described by Laidlow and Page in their
original design. We also allowed several beekeepers cooperating to
exchange genetics to maintain the families of the stock as done by Cobey
and her California cooperator breeders. In Ontario, we tried to learn for
previous experiences of those who used the CBS. The major problem with the
CBS is the cost of running the program. It is expensive. Queen breeders
using the CBS can't compete with the queen producers who sell queens for
$5-10/queen.  Having educated customer is the key to drive the breeding
programs forward.

Breeding is a Math and no longer based on gut's feeling.


Medhat


Medhat Nasr, Ph. D.
Provincial Apiculturist
Pest Risk Management Unit
Crop Diversification Centre North

RR 6, 17507 Fort Road
Edmonton, AB, Canada T5B 4K3
Tel: (780) 415-2314    Fax: (780) 422-6096
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