Selective Breeding of Honeybees for Alfalfa Pollen Collection: With Tests in High and Low Alfalfa Pollen Collection Regions

Abstract

SummaryFour groups of honeybees were tested for their tendency to collect alfalfa pollen in south-western Idaho (where honeybees do not normally collect alfalfa pollen) and in northern Utah (where they do). In the seventh generation of the line with a strong tendency to collect alfalfa pollen (high line), the percentage of pollen collectors returning to the hive with alfalfa pollen was 35·6 % in Idaho and 87·4 % in Utah; the average percentage in the line with a low tendency to collect alfalfa pollen (low line) was 9·9% in Idaho and 36·4% in Utah. The percentages of alfalfa pollen collectors in the two mating groups of line B (an unrelated strain) occupied an intermediate position, at 15·7 and 17·7% respectively in Idaho and 77·0 and 64·1 % in Utah.In Idaho, the high line possessed the highest mean number of alfalfa pollen collectors per sample (15); line B (average for both groups) had an intermediate number (9); and the low line the lowest (4). In Utah, the three corresponding groups of colonies occupie...