BACKGROUND Controlled mating procedures are widely accepted as a key aspect of successful breeding in almost all animal species. In honeybees, however, controlled mating is hard to achieve. Therefore, there have been several attempts to breed honeybees using free-mated queens. In such breeding schemes, selection occurs only on the maternal path since the drone sires are random samples of the population. The success rates of breeding approaches without controlled mating have so far not been investigated on a theoretical or simulation-based level. METHODS Stochastic simulation studies were carried out to examine the chances of success in honeybee breeding with and without controlled mating. We investigated the influence of different sizes of breeding populations (500, 1000, 2000 colonies per year) and unselected passive populations (0, 500, 1000, 2000, infinitely many colonies per year) on selection for a maternally (queen) and directly (worker group) influenced trait with moderate ([Formula: see text]) or strong ([Formula: see text]) negative correlation between the two effects. The simulations described 20 years of selection. RESULTS Our simulations showed a reduction of breeding success between 47 and 99% if mating was not controlled. In the most drastic cases, practically no genetic gain could be generated without controlled mating. We observed that in the trade-off between selection for direct or maternal effects, the absence of mating control leads to a shift in favor of maternal effects. Moreover, we describe the implications of different breeding strategies on the unselected passive population that benefits only indirectly via the transfer of queens or drones from the breeding population. We show that genetic gain in the passive population develops parallel to that of the breeding population. However, we found a genetic lag that became significantly smaller as more breeding queens served as dams of queens in the passive population. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that even when unwanted admixture of subspecies can be excluded in natural matings, controlled mating is imperative for successful breeding efforts. This is especially highlighted by the strong positive impact that controlled mating in the breeding population has on the unselected passive population.

中文翻译：

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控制交配在蜜蜂育种中的重要性。

背景技术受控的交配程序已被广泛接受为几乎所有动物物种成功育种的关键方面。然而，在蜜蜂中，很难实现控制交配。因此，已经进行了几次尝试使用自由配合的女王/王后繁殖蜜蜂。在这样的育种方案中，选择只发生在母本路径上，因为无人机父系是种群的随机样本。迄今为止，尚未在理论或基于模拟的水平上研究没有控制交配的育种方法的成功率。方法进行了随机模拟研究，以检验在有无交配的情况下蜜蜂育种的成功机会。我们调查了不同规模的繁殖种群（每年500、1000、2000个殖民地）和未选择的被动种群（0、500、1000，2000年，每年选择无数个殖民地，以选择受母亲影响（女王）和直接影响（工人群体）的性状，两者之间具有中等（[公式：参见正文]）或强（[公式：参见正文]）负相关。模拟描述了20年的选择。结果我们的模拟结果表明，如果不控制交配，育种成功率将降低47％至99％。在最极端的情况下，如果没有受控的交配，几乎不会产生任何遗传增益。我们观察到，在选择直接或母体效应之间进行权衡时，缺少交配控制会导致有利于母体效应的转变。而且，我们描述了不同育种策略对未选择的被动种群的影响，这些被动种群仅通过从繁殖种群中转移女王或无人机而间接受益。我们表明，被动种群的遗传增益与育​​种种群的遗传增益平行发展。但是，我们发现，随着更多的繁殖后代在被动种群中充当后代的水坝，遗传滞后变得明显减小。结论我们得出的结论是，即使可以在自然交配中排除不必要的亚种混合，对于成功的育种工作，控制交配也是必不可少的。育种种群中控制交配对未选定的被动种群产生了强烈的积极影响，这一点尤为突出。我们表明，被动种群的遗传增益与育​​种种群的遗传增益平行发展。但是，我们发现，随着更多的繁殖后代在被动种群中充当后代的水坝，遗传滞后变得明显减小。结论我们得出的结论是，即使可以在自然交配中排除不必要的亚种混合，对于成功的育种工作，控制交配也是必不可少的。育种种群中控制交配对未选定的被动种群产生了强烈的积极影响，这一点尤为突出。我们表明，被动种群的遗传增益与育​​种种群的遗传增益平行发展。但是，我们发现，随着更多的繁殖后代在被动种群中充当后代的水坝，遗传滞后变得明显减小。结论我们得出的结论是，即使可以在自然交配中排除不必要的亚种混合，对于成功的育种工作，控制交配也是必不可少的。育种种群中控制交配对未选定的被动种群产生了强烈的积极影响，这一点尤为突出。对于成功的育种工作，控制交配是必不可少的。育种种群中控制交配对未选定的被动种群产生了强烈的积极影响，这一点尤为突出。对于成功的育种工作，控制交配是必不可少的。育种种群中控制交配对未选定的被动种群产生了强烈的积极影响，这一点尤为突出。