Hormonal stimulation influence on biomorphological indicators of drones with varroa infestation

The purpose of research is to study the effect of hormonal stimulation of drones during varroa infestation on live weight, hemolymph volume and sperm concentration in the process of individual development. The experiments were carried out on bee colonies of the Carpathian breed. To carry out the experiments, 6 groups of families of analogues were formed. Groups 1 to 5 included families affected by varroa, the percentage of mite infestation of which did not exceed 20 %. The 6th control group included conditionally healthy bee colonies, the mite burden of which did not exceed 4 %. Live weight and hemolymph volume were determined on the 1st, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days of drone development. The sperm concentration per mm3 was determined on the 28th day of drone development. High indicators of live weight of drones were recorded on the 28th day in the 2nd group, where honey satiety with the addition of the queen bee hormone-pheromone was used as a stimulating feeding. Sick bees were inferior in body weight to group 2 by 26 %, and healthy bees by 10.2 %. Group 2 was also the leader in terms of hemolymph volume on days 21 and 28. On the 28th day of development, sick drones were inferior in hemolymph volume to group 2 by 56.5 %, and healthy ones - by 24.8 %. At the end of the experiments, the largest number of sperm was recorded in drones of the 4th group, where honey satiety with the addition of gonadotropin was used as a stimulating feeding. As a result, stimulating feeding with gonadotropin and the queen bee hormone-pheromone has a positive effect on live weight, hemolymph volume and sperm concentration in drones.