Evaluation of improved Iranian honeybee queens of control queens in different apiaries in Alborz province

Iranian honeybees have advantages and disadvantages in terms of performance and behavioral traits compared to other honeybee races in the world. The current study was aimed to evaluate the performance of the 14th - 18th generations of breeding improved queens in Iranian Honey Bee Breeding Program, and their comparison with control queens kept in private apiaries. To evaluate the queens, specific questionnaires were designed and completed by beekeepers in their apiaries based on the performance of queens in third layer. Evaluation of queens in 11 apiaries of Alborz province was compared with control queens. Comparison of improved and control queens in terms of swarming and calmness showed there was no significant difference between them. The results showed that in terms of honey production, control queens are superior in one year and there is no difference between them in another year. The results showed that in terms of aggressive behavior, the bred queens were significantly superior to the control queens (P <0.05). Totally, improvement of mentioned traits in some years and superiority of the bred queens in all the provinces of the country, showed that continuing with the effort to genetically stabilize these traits and also use new breeding methods to establish colonies that are compatible with the climatic conditions of the coming years and new problems of the beekeeping industry are required