Some Observations on the Heritability and Genetic Correlation Between Honey Production and Brood Area in the Honeybee

Abstract

SUMMARYIn 1961/62 measurements of citrus honey production were made on 30 colonies headed by Italian queens. On the basis of these measurements 8 superior colonies and 8 average colonies were chosen, and 4 daughter queens raised from each and allowed to mate naturally. The following were obtained for each daughter colony: net change in weight in autumn and winter (WH); amount of honey produced in the (spring) citrus season (SH); total honey production TH (WH + SH); total of all brood area measurements made during winter and early spring (TB); brood area just before the start of the citrus bloom (FB). The genetic and phenotypic correlations between SH and TH were 1·02 and 0·92; those between TB and FB 1·15 and 0·91 respectively. The genetic correlations between TB and FB, and between TB and TH, were 1·06 and 1·30; the phenotypic correlations were 0·51 and 0·45. Correlations between WH and the other variables were all small and negative. The heritabilities of WH, SH, TH, TB and FB (as calculated from the variance components) were 0·57, 0·60, 0·58, 0·76 and 0·33. The realized heritability of SH was 0·36.The application of these results to practical bee breeding is discussed.