The correlation between colony strength, food supply and honey yield in honey bee colonies

Abstract

The dependence between traits is determined by the correlation coefficients. The experiment was conducted using two generations of honey bee. The first generation consisted of the mother queen bees, and the second were their offspring. The experiment lasted for two years per generation. In the first generation, the correlation between colony strength in the both spring and autumn inspection and the honey yield was high. Considering food supply, the high correlation between food supplies in autumn and honey yield was determined. In the offspring colonies, the high correlation was determined between colony strength in autumn and honey yield. The colony strength in the spring inspection and honey yield were in medium correlation. Also, the medium correlation was determined between honey yield and brood area in the spring inspection. Other studied characteristics in the offspring colonies were not significantly correlated with honey yield.

Stepen zavisnosti jedne osobine od druge utvrđuje se na osnovu koeficijenta korelacije. Ogled je sproveden na dve generacije društava medonosne pčele. U prvoj generaciji praćene su majke matice, a u drugoj njihovo potomstvo. Ispitivanje po svakoj generaciji trajalo je po dve godine. U prvoj generaciji utvrđena je visoka korelacija između snage društava na prolećnom jesenjem pregledu i prinosa meda po društvu. Kod zaliha hrane utvrđena je visoka korelacija između prinosa meda i zaliha hrane na jesenjem pregledu. Kod potomstva utvrđena je visoka korelacija između snage društava na jesenjem pregledu i prinosa meda. Snaga društva na prolećnom pregledu i prinos meda pokazuju srednji stepen korelacije. Takođe, utvrđen je i srednji stepen korelacije između prinosa meda i površine legla na prolećnom pregledu. Ostale praćene karakteristike potomačkih društava nisu pokazivale značajan stepen korelacije sa prinosom.