Successful honey bee breeding programmes require traits that can be genetically improved by selection. Heritabilities for production, behaviour, and health traits, as well as their phenotypic correlations, were estimated in two distinct Swiss Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera carnica populations based on 9 years of performance records and more than two decades of pedigree information. Breeding values were estimated by a best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) approach, taking either queen or worker effects into account. In A. m. mellifera , the highest heritabilities were obtained for defensive behaviour, calmness during inspection, and hygienic behaviour, while in A. m. carnica , honey yield and hygienic behaviour were the most heritable traits. In contrast, estimates for infestation rates by Varroa destructor suggest that the phenotypic variation cannot be attributed to an additive genetic origin in either population. The highest phenotypic correlations were determined between defensive behaviour and calmness during inspection. The implications of these findings for testing methods and the management of the breeding programme are discussed.

中文翻译：

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两个瑞士蜜蜂种群的生产、行为和健康特征的遗传参数估计

成功的蜜蜂育种计划需要可以通过选择进行遗传改良的性状。根据 9 年的表现记录和超过 20 年的谱系信息，在两个不同的瑞士蜜蜂和蜜蜂种群中估计了生产、行为和健康特征的遗传力，以及它们的表型相关性。育种值通过最佳线性无偏预测 (BLUP) 方法估计，同时考虑了蜂王或工蚁效应。在上午 mellifera ，在防御行为、检查时的冷静和卫生行为方面获得了最高的遗传力，而在上午。carnica 、蜂蜜产量和卫生行为是最具遗传性的特征。相比之下，Varroa destructor 对侵染率的估计表明，表型变异不能归因于任一种群的加性遗传起源。检查期间防御行为和冷静之间确定了最高的表型相关性。讨论了这些发现对测试方法和育种计划管理的影响。