Evaluation of uncapping and removing behavior of brood infested and their correlation with honey production, population and defensive behavior in Iranian honey bee colonies

Hygienic behavior is important defense mechanism of honeybee colonies. This behavior protected the colonies against various pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and some parasites similar varroa mite. One of Hygienic behavior is consist of detecting of damaged or died brood, uncapping their cells and removing the broods. This study was carried out on 100 colonies of honeybee breeding project of Iran. Uncapping and removing and also some performance traits such as honey production, defense behavior and population size of honeybee colonies were evaluated in the spring and summer. Results showed considerable phenotypic variation of uncapping and removing in the honey bee colonies. 21 and 18 percent of colonies had desirable hygienic behavior in the first and second period of research. Results showed there are no significant correlation between defense behavior and hygienic behavior. Obtained results showed the removing have significant correlation with population size (P<0.05), honey production have significant correlation with uncapping (P<0.01) and removing behavior (P<0.05). Based on these results it seems the selection of hygienic colonies in honeybee breeding programs can make good progress in the future.