It may be unrealistic to expect a superior "game changer" bee to
become the predominant genotype in vast regions or countries. Bee
breeding is far behind the practice for other agricultural animals or
plants. Despite the visibility, it is a small industry with
relatively small markets for any innovation. Other realities make the
practice especially difficult: the production unit is a complex
superorganism in which it is impossible to directly measure
characteristics on reproductives, the odd resistance mechanisms of
social insects seem to center on social immunity, the open mating
system of honey bees, and no good method to preserve germplasm.
There is a short list of examples in which artificial selection and
controlled mating has produced new genotypes with defined
characteristics of some potential value. The fact that the genotypes
produced by these breeding programs have not become predominant does
not necessarily mean that a breeding program was not successful.
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