Production of Non-Stinging Honeybees by Gamma-Ray Irradiation

News source: National Institute of Animal Industry, Japan, 2001-01-01

Gamma-Ray Irradiation to Produce Non-Stinging Bees

Honeybees, Apis mellifera, have been well recognized as pollinators of crops. They are, however, aggressive and possess a venomous sting, which has limited their utilization to a certain degree. Successful production of non-stinging honeybees was achieved by using gamma-ray irradiation. Non-stinging honeybees can be produced by gamma-ray irradiation, through which their stingers are disabled. Two methods can be used. In the first method, queen bees were exposed to acute gamma-ray irradiation of 20 to 50 gray (Gy). About 25 % of these queens produced non-stinging honeybee workers at a rate of 0.5 to 1.0 %.

Lack of Sting Is Hereditary Feature

This characteristic of no sting proved to be a hereditary one. Therefore, it is possible to establish a strain of non-stinging honeybees by further breeding and selection. The other method involves acute gamma-ray irradiation of 30 Gy during the developing stages of metamorphosis from mature larvae into pupae. In this method, non-stinging adult honeybees were produced at a rate of 97 %. In this way, artificial colonies of non-stinging honeybees can be obtained, which can easily be used as pollinators of crops.

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