Breeding Hilo Bees |
Breeding Hilo Bees |
Since 2015, Hilo breeding has focused on refining lines of bees that previously were identified as having mite resistance, but were not consistently productive. The process produced a pool of highly Varroa resistant bees, which in 2020 are being collected into a semi-closed population for long-term maintenance. |
The best evaluation of a colony’s mite resistance comes from measuring the expression of Varroa sensitive hygiene, i.e., the proportion of non-reproductive mites in worker brood. This method was used extensively for the first five years of the Hilo program to increase mite resistance. An explanation of the testing method can be found here: Harbobeeco.com/measure-vsh/
Since high mite resistance is established in the Hilo population, infestations are now mostly evaluated by measuring mite infestation on adult bees in potential breeder colonies and field colonies over time. A standard, beekeeper-friendly mite-wash technique is used. This allows many observations to be made under field conditions. |