The study on morphological and physiological characters affecting the productivity of some honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) genotypes of Turkey

Abstract

Experimental material consisted of 36 selected colonies collected from 6 different regions of Turkey. During the swarming season 20 worker bees were taken from each colony in order to measure the morphological characters including corbicul and wax mirror area, tongue length and body size. Development of the colony population, brood rearing activity and honey yield during a season were determined and the hive was weighed weekly for 6 months under migratory beekeeping conditions. The relationships between some morphological and physiological characters which affected the productivity of genotypes were investigated. The average honey yields were found to be 24.38+/-3.58, 26.57+/-5.51, 57.15+/-3.43, 41.22+/-5.18, 17.35+/-3.69 and 47.15+/-3.33 kg per colony in the Anatolia, Caucasican, Mugla, Gokceada, Trace and Alata genotypes respectively. There were significant relationships between the investigated morphological and physiological characters. Also these characters significantly affected the honey yield.