Polymorphism and prospects of breeding of the dark European forest bee of the Russian range

The article presents the results of the assessment of biological and economically useful features of the Central Russian bee families from the interlinear crosses of the Orel, Tatar and Bashkir populations. The results of testing the crosses of outbred lines with different duration of individual selection of the source material are presented. The prospects of breeding Central Russian bees of local populations along lines with subsequent crosses of outbred lines as a method of improving them in purebred breeding are shown. The degree of hereditary conditionality of the interpopulation diversity was evidenced by the results of crosses of the Orel, Tatar, Bashkir populations of the selected lines. The bee families of interlinear combinations of the Orel, Tatar and Bashkir populations showed significantly higher honey and wax productivity, higher growth and development rates. Preliminary selection of the source material plays a certain role in achieving the effect of an interlinear combination. The bee families of the outbred line B-79 of the Bashkir population, isolated in the apiaries of the Bashkir State Reserve, outbred lines T-44 of the Tatar, M-39 and M-7 of the Orel breeding population of the Orel experimental beekeeping station had significantly higher growth and productive qualities at the time of receiving crosses. For the full-scale conservation and effective use of the unique gene pool of the Central Russian breed of bees, it is necessary, first of all, to ensure the well-being of the complex of its local populations and isolated types. Within each local population, highly productive outbred lines with a high concentration of valuable genotypes are needed.