Honey bees bred for Varroa sensitive hygiene trait demonstrate resistance to chalkbrood disease.

ABSTRACT: To improve health and vitality of honey bees (Apis mellifera) beekeepers can propagate stocks that demonstrate resistance to both parasites and pathogens. Most breeding programs focus on resistance to Varroa destructor mites and/or brood pathogens. Colonies bred specifically for the trait Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH), exhibit a high level of resistance to the parasitic mites. Still, they have never been explicitly tested for resistance to brood diseases. The goal of this study was to test if colonies bred for VSH are both mite and disease resistant. Over two years (2023 and 2024) and in two locations (University of Minnesota and the USDA-ARS lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana), we compared colonies from the Pol-line bred specifically for VSH to colonies from a commercial source. The Commercia

SUBMITTER: Dyrbye-Wright I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12385354 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature