Effects of uncontrolled queen importation and migratory beekeeping on the racial purity and spermatological parameters of honey bee (Apis mellifera anatoliaca) population in Central Anatolia

Widespread immigrant beekeeping activity, inadequate quality queen bee production and the excess of uncontrolled crossbreeding are great problems for the quality of honey bee races in Türkiye. However, the effects of uncontrolled crossbreeding on the spermatological parameters are not fully known. In this study, samples were analyzed in terms of morphometric parameters such as cubital index, hantel index and discoidal shift. Drones belonging to the same colonies were investigated in terms of spermatological parameters such as total motility, Plasma Membrane Integrity (PMI), Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) and spermatozoa concentration (SCON). The wing index values of the samples were similar to the wing values of some races. Racial similarities rates were50% Caucasian (A. m. caucacia), 49% Anatolian (A. m. anatoliaca), 24% Brown (A. m. mellifera), 13% Italian (A. m. ligustica) and 8% Carnolian (A. m. carnica). These results showed that the expected Anatolian race in the region had changed greatly and there is a danger of crossbreeding of bee races (Apis mellifera anatoliaca) in Central Anatolia Region. The averages of spermatological parameters were 85% motility, 82% PMI, 78% MMP and 5.9 × 109/ml sperm concentration. In addition, no significant correlative relationship was found between morphometric and spermatological parameters (p˃0.05). In this study, the samples of honey bee colonies in the Central Anatolia Region showed random and uncontrolled crossbreeding among different races. The spermatological parameters were found to be sufficient for fertility but there was no significant relationship detected statistically between the spermatological and morphometric parameters.