Breeding the Mite-Resistant Honeybee by Nutritional Crossbreed Technology

Mite (Varroa destructor) is one of the most serious parasite threats to the honey bee (Apis mellifera) reared in China. The beekeepers mainly use the drug to control and kill the mite in the past years, but the honey products may be contaminated and the mite is becoming drug-resistant. The main idea of this paper is to research the possibility of mite-resistant honeybee rearing by nutritional crossbreed. The larvae (Apis mellifera ligustica) are bred with the royal jelly of Apis carana carana, and then the morphological index of the worker generation, genotypic frequency and gene frequency of the MDH II, genetic resemblance, and mite resistance are measured. The results show that: compared to the parent workers, the proboscis length, anterior wing area, the total length of the third and fourth dorsal plate of the abdomen, the length of the fourth dorsal plate of the tuberculum, the area of the sixth abdominal segment, and the area of wax mirrors are significantly different, but the differences in the brachium index, dactylus index, and wing claw are not significant. Moreover, there are some mutations in the genotypic frequency and gene frequency of the MDH II. The mite resistance of the nutritional crossbreed worker is significantly higher. The morphological, physical, and biochemical characters, genetic resemblance, and the mite-resistant ability of the worker generation can be changed by nutritional crossbreeding. Nutritional crossbreeding can be a new way to breed the honeybee.