Organization and Principles of Queen Selection and Rearing in Bulgaria

ABSTRACT

In recent years, beekeeping in Bulgaria has expanded because of the available diversity of flora offering possibilities for production of different types of honey. The local Bulgarian honeybee, consideres as an own variety, is of scientific and beekeeping interest for selection. During the past years, this local type was endangered by many activities. A major threat is importation of foreign queens. For more than three decades in the past Apis mellifera ligustica, A. m. carnica and A. m. caucasica have been reared in Bulgaria modifying local bees through hybridization. Further, queen rearing contributes to the reduction of effective population sizes.

Since 1999 efforts have been made towards an implementation of a new national program for breeding and improving the work with Bees. Its purpose is the conservation of the gene pool of the local Bulgarian honey bee. In 2001 in Bulgaria the National Bee Breeding Association was registered. It performs the activities of honeybee breeding and reproduction and the realization of the approved selection program. There are about 750000 bee colonies in Bulgaria at the moment. The National Bee Breeding Association monitors the bee colonies from the National gene fund and of breeding bases with more than 14 000 bee colonies in total.

Keywords:

• honeybee selection
• queen rearing
• selection program
• Bulgaria