Breeding Resistant Bees
Walking the Walk Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance; 2022 Update, Part 1
Contents Resistance vs. Tolerance or “Survival” 1 Managed apiaries vs. natural evolution. 2 Background. 3 The necessity of Mechanical Agitators 3 The resistant colonies 6 So what’s our progress so far?. 10 A built-in lag inherent in open mating programs 13 Exhibit A: Mite-count tracking for our 2022 breeders 14 Coming. 16 References. 16 ...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 2; Mite Resistance and Genetic Expression
Contents The Achilles’ heel of varroa. 2 Genotype vs. Individual- or colony-level phenotype. 2 gene regulation. 3 An example of the differential expression of genes in the honey bee. 4 What Is our own bees’ mechanism(s) for Resistance?. 6 Testing for Uncapping behavior 9 Is there a Cost to the colony for resistance?. 10 Our...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3; Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3 Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com The alleles necessary for varroa resistance already existed in my stock of bees, so I didn’t need to “create” anything new. What I’m attempting to do via strong selective pressure is to (1) eliminate from our...
Selective Breeding Progress Report 2023
Selective Breeding Progress Report 2023 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ September 2023 In 2017 I proposed a simplified method for commercial queen breeders to select for varroa-resistant stock, and then undertook a demonstration project to see if it would work. After six years of strong selection, we appear to be making substantial progress!...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Part 1
Contents COLONY COLLAPSE REDUX? 1 A SIDE NOTE ON RECENT COLONY COLLAPSES 2 WASTED YEARS 3 NOVEL HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS 3 BREEDING MAY BE SIMPLE, OR MORE COMPLICATED 4 SELECTING FOR TOLERANCE OR RESISTANCE? 4 HOW DOES VARROA’S NATIVE HOST DEAL WITH THE MITE? 5 SOCIAL APOPTOSIS 6 RE-EVALUATING SELECTIVE BREEDING STRATEGIES 6 PROGRAMS SELECTING FOR...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 3: The Equipment Required
Contents INTRODUCTION – SOME ARTICLES FROM 2017 1 MY OBJECTIVE 2 LET’S PUT TO REST TO A COMMON MISCONCEPTION 3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MITE WASH TECHNIQUE 3 DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE TO DO THOUSANDS OF MITE WASHES 4 A SYSTEM TO AVOID CONFUSION IN THE FIELD 5 DEVELOPMENT OF PORTABLE IN-FIELD AGITATORS 7 NEXT MONTH...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 4: How We Do It
Contents NOTE TO OUR COUNTRY’S QUEEN PRODUCERS 2 IT’S NOT A “ONE AND DONE” 2 HOW WE DO IT 2 PICKING OUR QUEENS TO BREED FROM 3 ELIMINATING UNWANTED ALLELES WHILE MAINTAINING GENETIC DIVERSITY 4 PROPAGATING OUR BREEDERS 4 MANAGING OUR DRONE POOL 5 START THE VARROA RACE! 7 OUR MITE-RESISTANCE ASSAY 8 FOLLOW UP...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Part 5–It’s Your Turn
Contents SUPPLY FOLLOWS DEMAND.. 4 SOME SUGGESTIONS. 4 SO HERE’S A LIST OF SOME OPTIONS: 4 Option #1 (Take your breeders from Nature) 4 Option #2 (Rolling the dice) 5 Option #3 (the one that we took) 5 Option #4 (the easiest) 6 HOW MANY COLONIES DO I NEED?. 6 HOW SHOULD I CONTROL...
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