Increasing the probability of rapid testing of commercial honey productivity of experimental bee colonies

Abstract

Goal. To study additional factors affecting the results of express studies of honey productivity of bee colonies, make technological additions to the main provisions of the previously developed methodology. Methods. For research, 12 families-analogues with young queens were selected from the general purebred group of Carpathian bees of the Synevir type. An express method was used to check the honey productivity of bee colonies, and syrup meters — devices for measuring the amount of sugar syrup taken by bee colonies. Results. In the spring, during the period when bee colonies reached an average strength of 10.8 frames, three cycles of studies of the intensity of sugar syrup consumption were carried out for 120 hours. Later, bee colonies were evaluated relative to actual gross and commodity honey productivity. The correlation levels between different pairs of experimental cycles of sugar syrup sampling intensity and honey productivity were determined. Conclusions. The maximum correlation coefficient r = 0.57 ± 0.26 (p > 0.05) was established between the intensity of sugar syrup sampling in the second (V2) and third (V3) cycles of studies and the gross honey productivity of bee colonies. The first cycle of studies of the amount of sugar syrup consumed (V1) did not need to be used to calculate correlations since experimental bee families had different mobilization characteristics. This factor may affect the validity of the overall results. None of the bee colonies studied, which showed low characteristics of sugar syrup sampling intensity, had gross honey productivity above the average level relative to the total experimental group of bee colonies. This fact made it possible with a high probability to isolate and reject bee colonies with low honey productivity from the experimental group.