Estimates of genetic parameters for production, behaviour, and health traits in two Swiss honey bee populations
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Original article
Estimates of genetic parameters for production, behaviour, and health traits in two Swiss honey bee populations Matthieu GUICHARD1 , Markus NEUDITSCHKO1 , Gabriele SOLAND2 , Padruot FRIED2 , Mélanie GRANDJEAN3 , Sarah GERSTER3 , Benjamin DAINAT1 , Piter BIJMA4 , Evert W. BRASCAMP4 1
Agroscope, Swiss Bee Research Centre, Schwarzenburgstrasse 161, 3003, Bern, Switzerland 2 mellifera.ch association, Ahornstrasse 7, 9533, Kirchberg, Switzerland 3 Société Romande d’Apiculture par sa commission d’élevage, Rte de la Vignettaz 41, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland 4 Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands Received 3 June 2019 – Revised 13 January 2020 – Accepted 30 March 2020
Abstract – Successful honey bee breeding programmes require traits that can be genetically improved by selection. Heritabilities for production, behaviour, and health traits, as well as their phenotypic correlations, were estimated in two distinct Swiss Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera carnica populations based on 9 years of performance records and more than two decades of pedigree information. Breeding values were estimated by a best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) approach, taking either queen or worker effects into account. In A. m. mellifera , the highest heritabilities were obtained for defensive behaviour, calmness during inspection, and hygienic behaviour, while in A. m. carnica , honey yield and hygienic behaviour were the most heritable traits. In contrast, estimates for infestation rates by Varroa destructor suggest that the phenotypic variation cannot be attributed to an additive genetic origin in either population. The highest phenotypic correlations were determined between defensive behaviour and calmness during inspection. The implications of these findings for testing methods and the management of the breeding programme are discussed. Apis mellifera / genetic parameter / heritability / phenotypic correlation / Varroa destructor
1. INTRODUCTION In Switzerland, beekeepers from the associations mellifera.ch (MEL), breeding Apis mellifera mellifera , and Société Romande d’Apiculture (SAR), rearing Apis mellifera carnica , maintain two breeding programmes operating independently, but they share a common interest in improving the production, behaviour, and health traits of
Corresponding author: M. Guichard, [email protected] Manuscript editor: David Tarpy
honey bees. Their aim is to provide beekeepers with genetic material corresponding to their respective population standards and with good capabilities for beekeeping in local environmental conditions. The selection is subsidised by government funding to support local breeding programmes. Both breeding programmes maintain mating stations in distinct Alpine valleys, which enables controlled mating of the queens with selected drones of the respective honey bee population (Plate et al. 2019). Since 2010, selection in each population occurs after evaluation of about 100 to 180
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