Increased brood viability and longer lifespan of honeybees selected for propolis production

Abstract

Propolis has been proposed to affect honeybee health. To test this hypothesis, we initially evaluated propolis production in 36 honeybee colonies. The three highest (HP) and three lowest propolis-producing (LP) colonies had mean yields of 16.0 and 0.64 g, respectively. Queens and drones from these parental colonies were crossed by artificial insemination to produce five colonies each of the following crosses: HPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x HPa (TM),, HPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x LPa (TM),, LPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x HPa (TM),, and LPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x LPa (TM),. Colonies headed by HPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x HPa (TM), queens produced 34 times more propolis than those headed by LPa (TM) EuroaEuro parts per thousand x LPa (TM), queens and five times more than those from the other two crosses. Newly emerged bees were marked to measure longevity, and egg and brood counts were made to determine brood survival rates. The colonies with queens derived from crosses between high-propolis-producing colonies had significantly higher brood viability and greater worker bee longevity. We conclude that colonies that collect more propolis are healthier and have longer-living bees.