Correlation of morphologic and production traits of honey bee colonies from Serbia

Abstract

State of mutual or reciprocal relationship between traits is determined by the correlation coefficients. Correlation of morphological and production traits was determined in two generations of honey bee colonies. In the first generation, mother queen bees were studied, and in the second generation, their offspring. The study of one generation lasted two years. Morphological traits were determined in the beginning of the study and production traits were determined in the spring and autumn inspections of every year. In the first generation, the positive and mostly high correlation between morphological traits, and honey yield and hygienic behavior was determined. Correlation of morphological traits, colony strength and food supplies per colony ranged from highly positive to slightly negative values. It was found that there was a high correlation between some production traits (colony strength in the spring and autumn inspections and honey yield per colony). In the analysis of offspring (second generation), most traits that were positively correlated in mother generation now, also, showed a similar relationship. The only difference, in contrast to mother generation, was that, for most traits, the intensity of interaction increased.

Stanje uzajamne ili recipročne povezanosti jedne osobine od druge utvrđuje se na osnovu koeficijenta korelacije. Korelacija morfoloških i proizvodnih osobina utvrđivana je kroz dve generacije društava medonosne pčele. U prvoj generaciji praćene su majke matice, a u drugoj njihovo potomstvo. Ispitivanje po jednoj generaciji trajalo je dve godine. Morfološke osobine su utvrđene na početku praćenja generacija, a proizvodne na prolećnom i jesenjem pregledu svake godine. U prvoj generaciji utvrđena je pozitivna i mahom visoka korelacija između morfoloških osobina, prinosa meda i higijenskog ponašanja. Stepen korelacije morfoloških osobina, snage društva i zaliha hrane po društvu bio je od visoko pozitivne do slabo negativne vrednosti. Ustanovljeno je da postoji i visok stepen korelacije između pojedinih proizvodnih osobina (snaga društava na prolećnom i jesenjem pregledu i prinosa meda po društvu). Prilikom testiranja potomstva (II generacija) većina osobina koje su bile u pozitivnoj korelaciji kod roditelja i sada su pokazivala uzajamni odnos. Jedina razlika u odnosu na roditelje je u tome da se, za većinu osobina, intezitet međusobnog uticaja povećao.