Qualidade espermática na espermateca de rainhas Apis mellifera L. africanizadas (hymenoptera: apidae) ao descarte

Abstract

The management of queen bee culling is efficiently applied when there is zootechnical control over their performance. However, this is not a reality in most comercial apiaries in Brazil and the decision to discard is often empirical. Sperm quality is a crucial factor for the production of healthy and productive bees. The presence of live and motile spermatozoa in the queen's spermathecae is crucial for the successful fertilization of eggs and, consequently, for the viability of the hives. Several studies have pointed out that sperm quality is related to several factors, including the age and nutrition of queen bees and the influence of external substances. As a strategy to raise awareness about the importance of queen information control in colonies, the objective of this work was to analyze the sperm quality in the spermatheca of 50 queens that were discarded without zootechnical information and verify what is the status of sperm stock available. With this work it was possible to establish a relationship between discarding and the status of sperm stock, and from this to validate or not the beekeeper's decision. The analysis was initially done by biometric analysis of the queens, and then dissection. In the dissection, the spermatheca was removed along with the rest of its organs. After the removal of the spermatheca, it was placed in a microtube containing Ringer's solution where it was gently broken and the concentration, motility and vitality of spermatozoa were evaluated. The average obtained in the concentration was 2.61 million spermatozoa, the intermediate motility (3) was the most observed, totaling 45% of the queens discarded and the average vitality of spermatozoa was 78.75%.