A method for factory breeding of Chinese honey bees

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for factory breeding of Chinese honey bee breeding drones, which is carried out according to the following steps: step 1: a drone comb is placed in a breeding group and a frame-type queen fence is used to restrict the breeding queen bee to lay eggs on it, and after 3 days, the drone comb that has laid eggs is taken out and a worker bee brood comb is added to the breeding group; step 2: the drone comb taken out in step 1 is placed in a feeding group and fed for 10-20 days, and then the drone comb is taken into a constant temperature and humidity room (constant temperature and humidity incubator). ) After 1 to 10 days of cultivation, the drones that have emerged from the cell are collected; step three: the drones that have emerged from the cell in the step two are mixed with worker bees in a ratio of 1:1-2, and 50% sugar water and pollen cakes are placed in the box; 5 days after the drones have emerged from the cell, they are placed in a flight cage under a 100W light for 30 to 60 minutes every day, and 10 days after the drones have emerged from the cell, they are provided for semen collection; step four: taking the drone honeycomb produced in step one as the first day and repeating steps one, two and three, and repeating this cycle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the breeding of Chinese honey bees, in particular to the factory breeding of Chinese honey bee breeding drones. Background Art

[0002] The Chinese honey bee (Apis cerana) is a unique bee genetic resource in my country. It has lived for thousands of years and has formed nine geographical ecotypes under long-term natural ecological conditions, including the northern Chinese honey bee, Changbai Mountain Chinese honey bee, Aba Chinese honey bee, Central China Chinese honey bee, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Chinese honey bee, South China Chinese honey bee, and Hainan Chinese honey bee. In natural bee colonies, drones are seasonal insects. They are only produced in large numbers in the bee colony during the breeding season. When there is sufficient nectar and pollen source outside, drones that have not mated coexist in small numbers in the bee colony. However, when the external conditions are severe, such as in late autumn and cold winter, drones are often driven away by worker bees and die. However, in the breeding process, drones are of great significance because half of the genetic characteristics of the offspring come from drones.

[0003] In traditional Chinese honey bee breeding, it is usually the case that the colonies of Chinese honey bees with excellent performance are selected as the queens to breed the next generation of queens. The next generation of queens bred by the queens are naturally mated and bred with the drones gathered in the bee colonies in the area. Sometimes this breeding method can improve the general characteristics of the bee species, but there are very few significant improvements in genetics. At least, no new species of Chinese honey bees have been successfully artificially bred so far (currently only the ecotypes produced by geographical isolation under natural conditions in the previous 9 natural conditions). This is because the genetic components of the drones mating with the queens have not been effectively controlled. Although some of the daughter queens have better performance in terms of traits, this is mainly due to the role of hybrid vigor and cannot be stably inherited. In modern honey bee breeding, with the success of artificial insemination technology of Western honey bees in 1927, people can control the mating of queens, making it impossible to achieve the wish under natural mating. Through the application of artificial insemination technology, Western honey bee breeding has been realized, and many new species have been artificially bred at home and abroad. Artificial insemination of Chinese honey bee queens Fujian Agricultural College (1982) and Guangdong Provincial Institute of Entomology (1983) also drew on the artificial insemination technology of Western honey bees to carry out innovative research on the physiology and biochemistry of Chinese honey bee drones and insemination equipment. However, Chinese honey bees and Western honey bees belong to the same genus but different species in taxonomy. The individual internal and external morphology, reproductive physiology and certain biological characteristics of their queens are different from those of Western honey bees. Drones are small in size, sensitive in temperament, and are more easily driven out of the nest than Western honey bees in the non-breeding season. The amount of semen is small, the collection of semen is difficult, and the viscosity of semen is quite different from that of Western honey bees. Although there has been progress in artificial insemination technology, breeding of Chinese honey bees is a highly technical and systematic work with a large amount of breeding. It cannot be solved by simply mastering the needle insertion technology. Therefore, artificial insemination of Chinese honey bee queens has not yet been popularized in breeding production. This is mainly manifested in the small amount of semen produced by Chinese honey bee drones, their immediate death after semen collection makes it impossible to collect semen repeatedly, and the number of drones bred by excellent breeding bee colonies is difficult to meet the semen required for artificial insemination when a large number of virgin queens are assembled.

[0004] In a natural bee colony, a virgin queen can successfully mate with any number of drones within a 6-kilometer radius, so the source and quantity of drones are not very demanding. However, the breeding process of Chinese honey bees requires isolated mating or artificial insemination for precise matching, so the quantity and quality of drones bred from excellent populations are very high.

[0005] Taking Chongqing as an example, a breeding Chinese honey bee colony of 16,000 worker bees (about 5 bees in a Lang's standard box) generally accepts about 2,000 drones for breeding at a time, from early March (Qingzhe) to mid-October (Cold Dew), with a one-month summering period in between, the whole process is about 200 days, and the cycle for breeding a batch of sexually mature drones is about 35-45 days (23 days for the egg, larva and pupa stage + 10 days for sexual maturity). 5-9 batches of drones can be bred, and 10,000-18,000 drones can be bred a year. If the drones expelled by the worker bees are subtracted, a normal bee colony can only provide 5,000-10,000 usable drones a year. If the immature drones caught at the nest gate for test flights are subtracted, only 3,000-5,000 drones can be provided a year. However, during the artificial insemination process, a queen bee requires 60-150 sexually mature breeding drones (the best insemination volume is about 6 microliters per time, and it needs to be inseminated twice. A drone can collect a maximum of 0.24 microliters, and those drones whose penis is not successfully everted due to poor technique are also excluded).

[0006] If too many drones are bred in a Chinese honey bee colony during the non-breeding season, the worker bees will not feed them, and even after they leave the hive, they will be expelled from the hive by the worker bees. In breeding farms, there are also queenless colonies or particularly old queens that are used to breed more drones, but the colony will lose its production capacity after raising one generation of drones, and further breeding may cause the colony to decline or even die, so it is impossible to continuously provide breeding drones.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the urgent task is to develop a method for breeding drones for Chinese honey bees, which has a large number, high survival rate, high sperm quality and is easy to operate, so as to meet the demand for drones in the breeding process of Chinese honey bees. Summary of the invention

[0008] In view of this, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for factory breeding of Chinese honey bee breeding drones, comprising a breeding colony, three or more breeding colonies, a constant temperature and humidity chamber, and a plurality of incubators and flight cages that can be placed in the constant temperature and humidity chamber, and breeding is carried out according to the following steps:

[0009] Step 1: Laying Drone Eggs

[0010] On the first day, a prepared drone honeycomb is placed in the breeding colony and a frame-type queen excluder is used to restrict the breeding queen bee from laying eggs on it. On the third day of egg laying, the prepared drone honeycomb is taken out and a worker honeycomb is added to the breeding colony;

[0011] Step 2: Feeding and leaving the room

[0012] The drone honeycomb prepared in step 1 is placed in one of the breeding colonies for 10 to 20 days, and a frame-type queen excluder is used during the breeding process to prevent the queen bee in the breeding colony from laying eggs on it; after the breeding, the drone honeycomb is taken into one of the incubators in the constant temperature and humidity chamber for cultivation, and the drones that have left the chamber are collected after 1 to 10 days, and the temperature in the constant temperature and humidity chamber is kept constant at 34 to 35° C., and the humidity is kept constant at 60 to 75%;

[0013] Step 3: Collecting semen

[0014] Add worker bees in the incubator in step 2 in a ratio of 1:(1-2) to the number of drones that have left the hive, place the incubator in a lightless room, and add 50% sugar water and pollen cakes into the incubator; 5 days after the drones leave the hive, place them in the flight cage and fly for 30-60 minutes every day under a 100W light; 10-90 days after the drones leave the hive, provide them for semen collection;

[0015] Step 4: Cycle breeding

[0016] The first day is when the drone honeycomb produced in step 1 is taken as the first day and steps 1, 2 and 3 are repeated, and the cycle is repeated.

[0017] Preferably, 3 days before the first start of step 1, all bee colonies are reward-fed until the cultivation is completed.

[0018] Wherein, in step 2, the number of days that the drone honeycomb is fed in the feeding group and cultured in the incubator is a total of 20 days. Take any number of days during the period of 10 to 20 days of feeding, and the time of culture in the constant temperature and humidity incubator shall be subtracted from the corresponding number of days. For example, the drone honeycomb is fed in the feeding group for 11 days and cultured in the constant temperature and humidity incubator for 9 days; for example, the drone honeycomb is fed in the feeding group for 15 days and cultured in the constant temperature and humidity incubator for 5 days.

[0019] Preferably, in the step 2, the drone comb is fed in the breeding group for 12 days, and the drone comb is cultured in the constant temperature and humidity incubator for 8 days. In the step 3, the drones are preferably provided for semen collection 14 days after leaving the hive.

[0020] In order to further improve efficiency, simplify procedures and save labor, the flying cage can be detachably fixed on the upper part of the incubator, and the top plate of the incubator can be opened in a horizontally pull-out manner.

[0021] Beneficial effects:

[0022] 1. The factory breeding method of the present invention can provide a sufficient number of Chinese honeybee drones using only one excellent Chinese honeybee species bee colony. A batch can be cultivated every 3 days, and more than 3,000 drones can be cultivated in each batch, which can provide more than about 200,000 sexually mature drones per year.

[0023] 2. The factory breeding method of Chinese honey bee drones of the present invention is to form a queenless colony by matching the adult drone bees after they leave the hive with worker bees in a ratio of 1:(1-2). Sugar water and pollen cakes are placed in the queenless colony to facilitate the worker bees to feed the drones. No honeycombs are placed in the queenless colony, so the worker bees will not lay worker bee eggs for feeding. By matching the adult drone bees after they leave the hive with worker bees to form a queenless colony, there are three advantages: first, the worker bees can accompany the drones to sexual maturity with a stable mood, and the drones will not be expelled from the nest during this period, thus ensuring the survival rate of the drones and reducing the number of diseases. Second, the worker bees in the kingless colony do not go out to collect, which prolongs the life of the worker bees, allowing the worker bees to accompany the drones for more than 3 months (the general life of the worker bees is only about 45 days), thus prolonging the use time of the breeding drones; and thus the drones of the required age can be accurately bred, which is convenient for researchers or breeders to collect semen in real time according to the required age, thus avoiding the loss of some activity due to the freezing and preservation of semen. Third, compared with the natural bee colony raising drones, the breeding time can be greatly reduced when the same number of sexually mature drones are cultivated. Taking Chongqing as an example, according to conventional technology, it takes one year to cultivate and provide 5,000 sexually mature drones with a Chinese honey bee colony. However, using the method of the present invention, it only takes 39 days to cultivate and provide 5,000 sexually mature drones.

[0024] 3. The breeding drones cultivated by the factory breeding method of Chinese honey bees of the present invention improve the quality and yield of drone semen and meet the needs of professional breeding farms. According to statistics, the sperm motility of the drones cultivated by the method of the present invention is 1.7891 percentage points higher than that of the conventionally raised drones in the bee colony. The main reason is that semen can be collected on the 12-16th day of the optimal physiological age of the drones, while the conventional breeding of the bee colony is mostly captured at the nest gate, and it is easy to catch the test flight of sexually immature and aging drones. Although the drones out of the room can also be marked to solve this problem, it is not only troublesome but also costly.

[0025] 4. The factory-based breeding method for Chinese honey bees drones of the present invention is convenient for capturing drones and can conveniently provide sexually mature drones at any time of the day (when it is dark).

[0026] 5. The present invention conducts indoor and outdoor factory breeding of drones, and the breeding conditions are easy to control, are not affected by the nectar source climate, and have low risks. Even when the outside temperature is below 10 degrees, sexually mature drones can be bred normally. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The accompanying drawings of the present invention are as follows.

[0028] Figure 1 The kingless colony formed by the drones and worker bees that have left the hive lives in the incubator. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements with the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are only used to explain the present application, and cannot be construed as limiting the present application. On the contrary, the embodiments of the present application include all changes, modifications and equivalents that fall within the spirit and connotation of the appended claims.

[0030] Example 1: Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment provides a factory breeding method for Chinese honey bee breeding drones, and the method in this embodiment includes a breeding group Z, three feeding groups, namely, feeding group a, feeding group b and feeding group c, a constant temperature and humidity room, and a plurality of incubators and flight cages that can be placed in the constant temperature and humidity room. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the temperature in the constant temperature and humidity room is constant at 34-35°C, the humidity is constant at 60-75%, and a red light is provided inside.

[0031] The factory breeding method of the Chinese honey bee species drone of the present embodiment is carried out according to the following steps:

[0032] Step 1.1: On the first day, a prepared drone comb a is placed in the breeding colony Z and a frame-type queen excluder is used to restrict the breeding queen from laying eggs on it. On the third day, the laid drone comb a is removed and a worker comb is transferred into the breeding colony Z at the same time (to supplement the queen bee in the colony to lay drone eggs all the time without worker bees leaving the cell);

[0033] Step 1.2: placing the drone honeycomb a proposed in step 1.1 into the nursery group a for 10 to 20 days, and using a frame-type queen excluder to prevent the queen bee of the nursery group a from laying eggs thereon; wherein the nursery period can be 10 days, the longest period not exceeding 20 days, and preferably 12 days;

[0034] After feeding, the drone honeycomb a is brought into the incubator a located in the constant temperature and humidity chamber and cultured for 1 to 10 days until the drones are released from the chamber; the drones released from the chamber can be collected and placed directly in the incubator a or can be collected in other insect boxes. In this embodiment, the drones released from the chamber can be directly collected in the incubator a;

[0035] Step 1.3: Add worker bees in a ratio of 1:(1-2) to the number of drones leaving the hive into the incubator in step 1.2, place the incubator in a lightless room, and put 50% sugar water and pollen cakes into the incubator; 5 days after the drones leave the hive, put them into the flight cage for 30-60 minutes every day under a 100W light, and provide them for semen collection 10 days after the drones leave the hive; since bees cannot see red light, the incubator a in this embodiment can be directly placed in the constant temperature and humidity room.

[0036] Step 2.1: On the same day that the breeding colony in step 1.1 takes out the produced drone comb a, a drone comb b is put into the breeding colony, and a frame-type queen excluder is used to restrict the breeding queen from laying eggs on it. On the 6th day, the produced drone comb b is taken out, and at the same time, a worker bee brood comb is transferred into the breeding colony Z;

[0037] Step 2.2: placing the drone honeycomb b proposed in step 2.1 into the nursery group b for 10 to 20 days, and using a frame-type queen excluder to prevent the queen bee of the nursery group b from laying eggs thereon; wherein the nursery period can be 10 days, the longest period does not exceed 20 days, and preferably 12 days;

[0038] After feeding, the drone honeycomb b is brought into the incubator b located in the constant temperature and humidity chamber and cultured for 1 to 10 days until the drones are released from the chamber; the drones released from the chamber can be collected and placed directly in the incubator b or collected in other insect boxes. In this embodiment, the drones released from the chamber can be directly collected in the incubator b;

[0039] Step 2.3: Add worker bees in a ratio of 1:(1-2) to the number of drones leaving the hive into the incubator in step 2.2, place the incubator in a lightless room, and put 50% sugar water and pollen cakes into the incubator; 5 days after the drones leave the hive, put them into the flight cage for 30-60 minutes every day under a 100W light, and provide them for semen collection 10 days after the drones leave the hive; since bees cannot see red light, the incubator b in this embodiment can be directly placed in the constant temperature and humidity room.

[0040] Step 3.1: On the same day that the breeding colony in step 2.1 takes out the produced drone comb b, a drone comb c is put into the breeding colony, and a frame-type queen excluder is used to restrict the breeding queen from laying eggs on it. On the 9th day, the produced drone comb c is taken out, and at the same time, a worker bee brood comb is transferred into the breeding colony Z;

[0041] Step 3.2: placing the drone honeycomb c proposed in step 3.1 into the nursery group c for 10 to 20 days, and using a frame-type queen excluder to prevent the queen bee of the nursery group c from laying eggs thereon; wherein the nursery period can be 10 days, the longest period does not exceed 20 days, and preferably 12 days;

[0042] After feeding, the drone honeycomb c is brought into the incubator c in the constant temperature and humidity chamber and cultured for 1 to 10 days until the drones are released from the chamber; the drones released from the chamber can be collected and placed directly in the incubator c or collected in other insect boxes. In this embodiment, the drones released from the chamber can be directly collected in the incubator c;

[0043] Step 3.3: Add worker bees in a ratio of 1:(1-2) to the number of drones leaving the hive into the incubator in step 3.2, place the incubator in a lightless room, and put 50% sugar water and pollen cakes into the incubator; 5 days after the drones leave the hive, put them into the flight cage for 30-60 minutes every day under a 100W light, and provide them for semen collection 10 days after the drones leave the hive; since bees cannot see red light, the incubator c in this embodiment can be directly placed in the constant temperature and humidity room.

[0044] According to the above introduction, the steps of male bees laying eggs - feeding the eggs - collecting semen are repeated continuously, so that every 3 days (about 72 hours), a batch of male bees can be obtained for semen collection.

[0045] In view of the above-mentioned factory breeding method of Chinese honey bee drones, this embodiment also provides the results of sperm motility determination of drones raised in bee colonies (Table 1) and drones raised by the method of the present invention (Table 2). The determination method is: 5 μL of semen is diluted 60 times with physiological saline, 10 μL of the dilution is taken for microscopic examination, the microscope magnification is 400×, 5 visual fields are taken for each sample to count the number of active sperm and the number of inactive sperm, and the sperm motility is expressed as the percentage of the number of active sperm to the total number of sperm.

[0046] According to the comparison between Table 1 and Table 2, it can be clearly seen that the sperm motility of the drones raised by the method of the present invention is 1.7891 percentage points higher than that of the drones raised in the bee colony. It can be seen that the factory breeding method of this embodiment can provide drones with higher sperm quality. It lays a foundation for the subsequent breeding of multiple new varieties through artificial insemination technology.

[0047] Table 1

[0048]

[0049]

[0050] Table 2

[0051]

[0052]

[0053] In summary, the factory breeding method of this embodiment can provide a sufficient number of Chinese honeybee drones using only one excellent Chinese honeybee species bee colony. A batch can be cultivated every three days, and more than 3,000 drones can be cultivated in each batch, which can provide more than about 200,000 sexually mature drones a year.

[0054] The factory breeding method of Chinese honey bee drones in this embodiment is to form a queenless colony by matching the adult drone bees after leaving the hive with worker bees in a ratio of 1: (1-2). Sugar water and pollen cakes are placed in the queenless colony to facilitate the worker bees to feed the drones. No honeycombs are placed in the queenless colony, so the worker bees will not lay worker bee eggs for feeding. By matching the adult drone bees after leaving the hive with worker bees to form a kingless colony, there are three advantages: first, the worker bees can accompany the drones to sexual maturity with a stable mood, and the drones will not be expelled from the nest during this period, which ensures the survival rate of the drones and reduces the number of diseases. Second, the worker bees in the kingless colony do not go out to collect, which prolongs the life of the worker bees, so that the worker bees can accompany the drones for more than 3 months (the general life of the worker bees is only about 45 days), and prolongs the use time of the breeding drones; and then the drones of the required age can be accurately cultivated, which is convenient for researchers or breeders to collect semen in real time according to the required age, avoiding the loss of some activity due to the freezing and preservation of semen. Third, compared with the natural bee colony raising drones, the breeding time can be greatly reduced when the same number of sexually mature drones are cultivated. Taking Chongqing as an example, according to conventional technology, it takes one year to cultivate and provide 5,000 sexually mature drones with a Chinese honey bee colony. However, using the method of the present invention, it only takes 39 days to cultivate and provide 5,000 sexually mature drones.

[0055] In addition, the factory breeding method of Chinese honey bee drones of the present invention is convenient for drone capture, and sexually mature drones can be conveniently provided at any time of the day (when it is dark). The breeding conditions are easy to control, are not affected by the nectar source climate, and have low risks. Sexually mature drones can be normally bred even when the outside temperature is below 10 degrees.

[0056] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that various changes may be made to it in form and details without departing from the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for industrial breeding of Chinese honey bees, characterized in that: The method comprises a breeding group, three or more feeding groups, a constant temperature and humidity room, and a plurality of incubators and flight cages placed in the constant temperature and humidity room, and breeding is carried out according to the following steps: Step 1: Laying Drone Eggs On the first day, a prepared drone honeycomb is placed in the breeding colony and a frame-type queen excluder is used to restrict the breeding queen bee from laying eggs on it. After the third day of egg laying, the prepared drone honeycomb is taken out and a worker honeycomb is added to the breeding colony; Step 2: Feeding and leaving the room The drone honeycomb prepared in step 1 is placed in one of the breeding colonies for 10 to 20 days, and a frame-type queen excluder is used during the breeding process to prevent the queen bee in the breeding colony from laying eggs on it; after the breeding, the drone honeycomb is taken into one of the incubators in the constant temperature and humidity chamber for cultivation, and after 1 to 10 days of cultivation, the drones are collected after they leave the chamber, and the temperature in the constant temperature and humidity chamber is kept constant at 34 to 35° C., and the humidity is kept constant at 60 to 75%; Step 3: Collecting semen Add worker bees in the incubator in step 2 in a ratio of 1:(1-2) to the number of drones that have left the hive, place the incubator in a lightless room, and add 50% sugar water and pollen cakes into the incubator; 5 days after the drones leave the hive, place them in the flight cage and fly for 30-60 minutes every day under a 100W light; 10-90 days after the drones leave the hive, provide them for semen collection; Step 4: Cycle breeding The first day is when the drone honeycomb produced in step 1 is taken as the first day and steps 1, 2 and 3 are repeated, and the cycle is repeated.

2. The method for industrial breeding of Chinese honey bees as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: Three days before the first start of step 1, all bee colonies are given reward feeding until the cultivation is completed.

3. The method for industrial breeding of Chinese honey bees as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In the step 2, the sum of the number of days the drone honeycomb is nurtured in the nurturing group and the number of days it is cultured in the incubator is 20 days.

4. The method for industrial breeding of Chinese honey bees as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In the step 2, it takes 3 days for the drone bees to leave the hive. The drone bees that leave the hive are collected every 5 hours during the 3 days, and 50% sugar water is placed in the incubator when there is no honey on the drone honeycombs.

5. The method for industrial breeding of Chinese honey bees as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In the step 3, the drone is provided for semen collection 10 days after leaving the hive.

6. The method for industrial breeding of apis cerana species drones according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The flying cage is detachably fixed to the upper part of the incubator, and the top plate of the incubator can be opened in a horizontally pull-in and pull-out manner.

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