Selective Breeding of Honeybees for Alfalfa Pollen Collection: With Tests in High and Low Alfalfa Pollen Collection Regions

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Abstract
Four groups of honeybees were tested for their tendency to collect alfalfa pollen in south-western Idaho (where honeybees do not normally collect alfalfa pollen) and in northern Utah (where they do). In the seventh generation of the line with a strong tendency to collect alfalfa pollen (high line), the percentage of pollen collectors returning to the hive with alfalfa pollen was 35·6 % in Idaho and 87·4 % in Utah; the average percentage in the line with a low tendency to collect alfalfa pollen (low line) was 9·9% in Idaho and 36·4% in Utah. The percentages of alfalfa pollen collectors in the two mating groups of line B (an unrelated strain) occupied an intermediate position, at 15·7 and 17·7% respectively in Idaho and 77·0 and 64·1 % in Utah. In Idaho, the high line possessed the highest mean number of alfalfa pollen collectors per sample (15); line B (average for both groups) had an intermediate number (9); and the low line the lowest (4). In Utah, the three corresponding groups of colonies occupied the same positions in relation to the mean number of alfalfa pollen collectors per sample, but there was much less difference between them (respectively, 18, 14 and 13). The yield of honey was greatest from the line B colonies, which were the least inbred.