<I>In Vitro</I> Rearing of Stingless Bee Queen <I>Tetragonula laeviceps</I> (Smith) Species Complex
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Abstract
The keeping of stingless bee, Tetragonula laeviceps (Smith) species complex colonies in human made hives is the most common in stingless bee beekeeping industry in Thailand. Nevertheless, to multiply the stingless bee colony for large scale farming, the queen rearing technique is needed to be developed. The present study examines the efficacy of in vitro queen–rearing techniques in terms of life cycle, survival rate and rearing technique for newly emerged adult queen. Experiments were carried out under growth chamber conditions at 28 ± 1°C and ambient 70-75% relative humidity. The quantity of larval food intake in each treatment was measured with graduated capillary. The results revealed that the optimal volume of larval food was 64 µl to be reared as queens. The larval survival rate, pupal survival rate, and queen survival rate were 34.28, 39.10 and 62.63 % respectively. It also found that the body size of reared queens was smaller than natural queens. The stingless bee queen development has consisted of 4 stages; egg, larva, pupa and adult. The duration of development stage of stingless bee queen from egg to adult emergence was 44.50±0.53 days. After 3 days of virgin queens exposure with no impact on worker aggression in form of biting but fed the prospective queens, the new queens were then introduced into the queenless colonies. Within 12 hours of being released, in vitro queens were able to mate and lay viable eggs.
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References
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