Resumo

MANRIQUE, Antonio José  e  ESPENCER EGEA SOARES, Ademilson. Início de um programa de seleção de abelhas africanizadas para a melhoria na produção de propolis e seu efeito na produção de mel. INCI [online]. 2002, vol.27, n.6, pp.312-316. ISSN 0378-1844.

Some colonies of Apis mellifera bees produce much more propolis than others, a trait that could be under genetic control. This possibility was investigated in an experiment carried out from April to July 1999, in the "cerrado" forest reserve Pé de Gigante, Santa Rita de Passa Quatro, São Paulo State, Brazil. The objective was to begin a genetic breeding program of bees to improve propolis production and verify the correlation between propolis and honey production. In seven apiaries, 100 colonies of Africanized honeybees originating in swarms and captured in forest reserve "Pé de Gigante" were used. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used. The propolis was collected in an Apis Flora collector. Only 25 colonies produced propolis, 87.45g on average, while the other 75 colonies did not produce propolis. The colonies, producers of propolis were better (P<0.001) in honey production, with an average of 26.98 kg/colony vs 13.93 kg/colony for non-propolised colonies. A positive correlation between propolis and honey production with r=0.422 and P=0.00001256 was found, showing that the bees that produced more propolis also produced more honey. The results show that it is possible to select bees for an increase of propolis production and improve the honey productivity.

Palavras-chave : Abelhas ; Mel ; Própolis .