Instrumental Insemination of Apis Cerana Indica Queens
1973; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 12; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00218839.1973.11099743
ISSN2078-6913
Autores Tópico(s)Plant and animal studies
ResumoSummaryFor breeding purposes, the possibility of instrumental insemination of Apis cerana indica was investigated. Altogether 54 queens were inseminated, and 2000 drones were used. Semen, which is difficult to separate from mucus, could be collected from only about one-third of the drones (average 0·16 mm3 semen per drone). This amount resulted only in traces of spermatozoa in the spermatheca of inseminated queens. Increasing the amount injected from 1 mm3 to 4mm3 significantly increased the number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca; increasing the temperature at which the queens were kept after insemination (from 28° to 34°) also significantly increased this number. In some queens inseminated with one large dose of semen, the oviducts were not emptied, in contrast to queens inseminated twice with a smaller amount. Queens inseminated with doses higher than 3 mm3 semen in June and July were still producing worker brood in worker cells at the end of the season.Insemination of A. cerana queens with 2 mm3 A. mellifera semen resulted in a considerably larger number of spermatozoa reaching the spermatheca than pure A. cerana insemination with the same amount of semen. The reciprocal cross (A. mellifera queen X A. cerana semen) did not give the same effect. It is deduced that these differing results were due to the greater concentration and activity of the spermatozoa in A. mellifera semen. It seems that semen from 40–60 drones is necessary for effective insemination of an A. cerana queen.
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