Are improved Iranian honey bee queens compatible with the climatic conditions of Kurdistan province?

The present research was conducted with the aim of evaluating the performance of improved Iranian honey bee queens with unimproved native queens (control queen) in private apiaries of Kurdistan province during 1396 to 1400. In this study, improved Iranian honey bee queens along with unimproved native queens were evaluated in six private apiaries of Kurdistan province based on honey production, calmness, aggressiveness, swarming, and overwintering traits. The results showed that the improved Iranian honey bee queens in the climatic conditions of Kurdistan province had a significant superiority and acceptable progress over the unimproved native queens in terms of calmness, aggressiveness, swarming, and overwintering traits (P<0.05). An acceptable relative superiority and progress were observed in terms of honey production trait in the improved queens in all the studied years compared to native queens, but this superiority and progress was not significant due to the low heritability of this trait. In general, the results of this study showed the progress and improvement of the target traits and the superiority of improved Iranian honey bee queens compared to un improved native queens in the climate conditions of Kurdistan province. Therefore, the results indicated that Iranian honey bee breeding has been effective in improving the target traits. So, it is necessary to use modified improved queens in order to increase the performance of honey bee colonies in the country and preserve one of the most valuable genetic resources of our country.