Grafted Larval Age as a Factor Affecting Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Queen Cell Acceptance and Morphometric Characteristics
Grafted Larval Age as a Factor Affecting Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Queen Cell Acceptance and Morphometric Characteristics
Muhammad Akbar Lashari1, Agha Mushtaque Ahmed1, Dalal M. Aljedani2, Fahad Nazir Khoso1, Rashid Mahmood3, Muhammad Khalid Rafique3, Hamed A. Ghramh4,5,6,7, Waseem Akram3, Saboor Ahmad8, Sabir Hussain9 and Khalid Ali Khan4,5,6,10*
ABSTRACT
Queen is the prime entity of the honeybee colony, which determines the fate of the colony’s productivity. The methods used for rearing honeybees are crucial to their success. This study was conducted in the spring of 2020 and 2021 to examine how queen cell acceptance rates and morphometric features i.e., length and width of head, thorax, wings, and body were affected by grafted larval age. For the rearing of queen bees, one-day-old, two-day-old, and three-day-old larvae were used in 11 starter hives from one breeding hive. The results exhibited a significant influence of grafted larval age on larval acceptance and morphometric features in both years. The highest acceptance rate was observed for one-day-old grafted larvae (81.11% in each study year), whereas the lowest was for three-day-old larvae (6.67% in 2020 and 7.78% in 2021). The highest mean larval acceptance for both of the years was also recorded in one-day-old grafted larvae i.e., 24.31% in the year 2020 and 24.30% in the year 2021. Whereas the lowest was recorded in three-day-old larvae i.e., 2.00% in 2020 and 2.30% in 2021. The highest body weight, head length, head width, thorax length, thorax width, wing length, wing width, and queen body length for both of the years was recorded in one-day-old grafted larvae i.e., 159.20 mg, 3.27 mm, 3.36 mm, 3.91 mm, 4.14 mm, 10.59 mm, 3.45 mm, and 21.33 mm in the year 2020 respectively and 156.90 mg, 3.26 mm, 3.37 mm, 3.96 mm, 4.18 mm, 10.63 mm, 3.50 mm, and 21.03 mm in the year 2021 respectively. Whereas the lowest was recorded in three-day-old larvae in both of the years. It is concluded that one-day-old grafted larvae are suitable for the production of healthier queen bees. These findings can provide direction for attempts to improve the quality of honeybee queens in profitable queen raising, which is necessary for resolving difficulties that are at the root of the increasing number of queen failures in the apiculture industry.
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