Progress towards breeding varroa-tolerant honey bee stock in New Zealand

摘要

Over the past three years HortResearch has been breeding honey bee stock that are resistant to varroa. The project is part of the Development of Technologies for the Control of Varroa programme funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund, with contributions from the National Beekeepers' Association and HortResearch. The aim of the breeding programme is to select stock that display a trait called delayed suppressed mite reproduction (SMRD) and then increase the presence of this trait through selective breeding. SMRD is the percentage of varroa in cells that do not reproduce or only produce offspring that do not survive, such as males or eggs that do not reach full maturity by the time the honey bee emerges from its brood cell.