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Date: | Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:44:14 +0000 |
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Hi all
Taking the subject line as the question, I say that there is no need for
any importation at least initially.
The concept that "populations will stabilize and adapt" may be true, but
left to nature, will be a very slow process. I see it as the breeder's
responsibility to make selections that are sympathetic to and reinforce
the traits that suit local conditions, thus generating a bee that fits
the environment it is in, once stability has been achieved then the bees
can be further selected for more complex traits like honey gathering.
After stability has been achieved (ten to twenty years) it may be
prudent to look for genes from further afield in the form of eggs and/or
semen providing suitable bio-security is applied to the process.
The trouble is that to do this selection work the breeder must
understand what the bee he is working with actually is in racial terms,
what its behaviours are and how to recognise and measure the purity of
breeding achieved.
However we as beekeepers are urged to breed from our 'best' colonies and
most people consider 'best' to equate to a high yield of honey per hive,
so these high yielding colonies are the ones used to breed from, when in
many cases the high honey yield will be more to do with robbing
propensity and hybrid vigour than any genetic disposition to gather a
large honey crop.
Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://melliferabees.net Email: [log in to unmask]
Short FallBack M/c, Build 7.21/2.01
Son of ORAC M/c, Build 5.o1/2.o1
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