Acceptance rate of Africanized honey bee larvae in hives maintained in the shade and under full sunlight in Northeast Brazil

Santos, Ricardo Gonçalves; Sombra, Daiana da Silva; Domingos, Herica Girlane Tertulino; Gonçalves, Lionel Segui

Acceptance rate of Africanized honey bee larvae in hives maintained in the shade and under full sunlight in Northeast Brazil

2016

Santos, Ricardo Gonçalves | Sombra, Daiana da Silva | Domingos, Herica Girlane Tertulino | Gonçalves, Lionel Segui

In the Semiarid region of Northeast Brazil, adverse environmental conditions such as high radiation and temperature affect the balance of homeostasis of the colonies of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). This research aimed to evaluate the rate of acceptance of Africanized honey bees larvae (Important stage of process of queen-rearing) in hives installed in the shade and under full sunlight in the semiarid climate of Northeastern Brazil. 10 colonies of honeybees (5 in the shade and 5 under full sunlight) were orphaned and prepared with young workers and food, having standardized biomass (equal population conditions) to receive frames containing 60-100 queen cell cups with larvae up to 24 hour-old. The acceptance percentage of transferred or grafted larvae to each colony was measured 72 hours after carrying out transfers and means were compared by the Student’s t-test at 5% probability. The colonies under shade conditions showed acceptance rate of 68.82 ± 17.03%, significantly higher (P = 0.0044) than the colonies subjected to direct sunlight with only 52.13 ± 16.29%. Thus, for the production of queens and royal jelly of Africanized honeybees in the semiarid climate of Northeast Brazil, it is strongly recommended the installation of apiaries in shady locations.

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