Source: Hawaii Island Honey Company submitted to NRP
BREEDING FOR IMPROVED VARROA-RESISTANT BEE STOCK TO SUPPORT HONEY BEE HEALTH, CROP POLLINATION, AND HONEY PRODUCTION
Sponsoring Institution
Agricultural Research Service/USDA
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
USDA COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0431412
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Nov 1, 2016
Project End Date
Oct 31, 2021
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
Hawaii Island Honey Company
15-1408 Railroad Avenue
Keaau,HI 96721
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
(N/A)
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
80%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
21130101130100%
Knowledge Area
211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
3010 - Honey bees;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology;
Goals / Objectives
Stabilize commercially important performance traits (honey production, colony population, overwintering ability and gentleness) in bees with high Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) - based mite resistance.
Project Methods
Milestone 1 (for the first year of work): Selection for high Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH); isolated mating apiary established. Create 100 colonies with single drone inseminated (SDI) queens from the best available genetic sources (VSH, Pol-line and field-tested Hawaiian lines derived from VSH). Add Varroa mites to the colonies and assess the expression of VSH by measuring the rate of Varroa reproduction. Produce drone-source colonies from queens with the best complement of traits. Establish an isolated mating apiary with 200 drone colonies from high VSH breeders selected from SDI work. Drone colonies will be individually monitored for presence of original queens and be evaluated for Varroa levels, adult bee populations and honey production. Colonies that perform poorly will have their queens replaced by daughters of the best queens from the program. Propagating the best colonies and culling the poorest will be an ongoing process throughout the duration of the program.