Herdabilidade e meliponicultura migratória em melipona compressipes fasciculata (Hymenoptera, Apidae) a abelha da Amazônia Oriental

Abstract

Fifty hives of Melipona compressipes fasciculata were used in this work to study migratory meliponiculture and genetic variability in honey production through the heritability coefficient in two locations. Initially the hives were installed in the meliponary of Vila Nova and after twelve months a migration from São Luís (MA) to the city of São Bento (MA) was performed. It was observed for the evaluated periods that the average honey production in the two meliponaries had no significant differences, and that the average honey production in 2006 was higher than in 2005 for the evaluated sites. The methodology used to estimate the heritability coefficient was the intraclass correlation for complete siblings. The workers of a colony were regarded as complete sisters; Beehives of this type are true progeny testing, where the queen's genetic value is evaluated by productivity. The heritability coefficient values were 0.024 0.015 and 0.2094 0.015 for the tiuba populations of Vila Nova meliponary in São Luís and UEMA School farm in São Bento, respectively. Such low estimates suggest a large non-genetic influence on honey production at the evaluated sites.