J. Waggle wrote:
>It certainly is interesting that the major focus of bee breeding nowadays
>is breeding back in the survival traits that for many years were ignored
>in breeding operations.  

First, developing varroa resistant bees is not "breeding back in" since
European honey bees *never* had this trait strongly enough to begin with.
Developing varroa resistant bees therefore is going forward to a better bee. 

Survival was not ignored, in any case. Inbreeding, which is an important
cause of loss of viability, has been thoroughly studied and is a factor
which any bee breeder seeks to avoid. 

Traits such as disease resistance, wintering ability, etc. have always been
sought. High levels of productivity can never be obtained with weak, inbred
bees. Nobody wants bees that have to be mollycoddled.

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pb

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