Closed Population Honeybee Breeding. 1. Population Genetics of Sex Determination

Abstract
Summary The genie mechanism of sex determination in honeybees is the greatest deterrent to successful bee breeding, because of the production of nonviable diploid drones with inbreeding. Part I of this paper discusses sex determination, the expected mean and variance in brood viability among queens, and the expected rate of loss of sex alleles in closed, finite, random-mating populations. This provides a foundation on which successful closed population stock maintenance and honeybee improvement programmes can be based.

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