'Hygienic bee' breeding plan to save species

Published on Sunday 5 April 2009 22:18

SCIENTISTS are aiming to breed "hygienic" honeybees in an effort to tackle the diseases in hives contributing to the insect's decline in the UK.

Researchers at the 1.9 million "bee lab" at Sussex University, officially launched this week, will also study the dances of the honeybees to decode where they are able to get food, as part of moves to make the country more "bee-friendly".

Among the major problems facing the honeybee, which has seen declines in the number of hives of nearly 75 per cent in the past century, are diseases and pests such as the varroa mite.

Some bees are more hygienic than others, with a greater tendency to remove from the hive larvae or pupae which are dead or dying from disease, reducing the chance of infection for others.

The trait is genetic, so bees can be selected from hives which exhibit the behaviour to breed hygienic colonies.