The effects of artificial insemination and natural mating on performance of Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera M.) colonies

Instrumental insemination is an important tool that provides complete control of honey bee mating for research and breeding purposes. In this research, the effects of artificial insemination (AI) and natural mating (NM) on performance of Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera M.) colonies were investigated. In this research, 10 hives for natural mating and 10 hives for artificial insemination were considered. Comparisons of mean of data were performed based on T-test. The traits examined in this experiment were included measuring the adult population of bees, broods viability, hygienic behavior and pollen collection in the spring and fall seasons. The results showed that the adult population size in AI group was higher than NM group over two seasons (P<0.05). Hygienic behavior in AI group was significantly better than Nm group in the fall season. There was not found a significant difference between the AI and NM in brood viability factor. In general, the results showed that the performance of the AI group was better than NM group.