| dc.description.abstract | Several characteristics are used to qualify a queen Apis mellifera of quality, among them the number of ovarioles stands out, since this one is connected to several other characteristics of quality of the queen like, for example, spermatheca volume and weight of the queen to the emergency. Usually, ovarioles counts are performed on fertile queens due to the ease of manipulation of the ovaries. In virgin queens, counting is not performed normally, but it is considered that counting the number of ovarioles in virgin queens allows a time gain once that the queen does not need to be fertilized for counting, and not the loss of the matrix for counting, and that it can be performed on the daughters of the queen. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a method for counting ovarioles and to study the relationship between weight at emergence, external morphometric measurements, ovarian and spermathecae of virgin A. mellifera africanized queens. The data analyzed refer to measures of weight at the emergency, total length, length and width of the abdome, weight of the right and left ovary, weight of the spermathecae and number of ovaries in the right and left ovary of 50 virgin Africanized A. mellifera queens. For the counting of ovarioles a method was adapted based on several works carried out with bees A. mellifera. The methodology used consisted in the use of a histological procedure composed by fixation in Bouin for one hour, followed by three washes in 70% alcohol, with each wash 15 minutes. The ovaries were then gradually dehydrated in alcohol (80% alcohol, 90%, 95%, ten minutes each and two 30 minute washes in 100% alcohol), diaphanization (alcohol: xylene 1: 1: 30 minutes , and two xylol baths (30 minutes each), infiltration and inclusion (paraffin / xylene: 30 minutes and paraffin for 3 hours). After cutting the tissue in a 5 to 6 μm wide microtome, the blades with the tissue were stained with Harris Hematoxylin and Eosin. After staining the slides were mounted with coverslip and Canada Balsam. To verify the relationship between the characteristics, the variables were submitted to descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation test and the Spearman correlation test, at a significance level of <0.05%. The histological method used to count the number of ovarioles was efficient in virgin queens and in fertile queens. The photographic record allowed precise counting of the number of ovarioles thus avoiding errors associated with data collection and, consequently, biased analyzes. The mean for emergency weight was 210.94 mg, 17.16 mm for total length, 10.47 mm for abdomen length, 4.98 mm abdomen width, 0.50 mg for spermathecae weight, 5.32 mg for the left ovary weight and 5.29 mg for the right ovary weight, 152 for the number of ovarioles in the right ovary and 139 ovaries in the left ovary. When Pearson's weightto-emergency ratios were evaluated, with the other characteristics, the highest correlation was between emergency weight and abdome width of 0.41. For abdome length and number of ovarioles in the left ovary was -0.34, for weight of spermatheca with right ovary weight 0.35 and 0.32 between right ovary weight and left ovary weight. Spearman's correlations between left ovary weight and abdomen length was 0.28, for left ovary weight and abdomen width was -0.32, for number of ovarioles inthe right ovary and right ovary weight was 0 , 27, on the other hand, the correlation between the number of ovarioles in the right ovary and the number of ovariolos in the left ovary was -0.37. The histological method adapted for the counting of the ovarioles allowed the accurate counting of the number of ovarioles in virgin and fertilized virgin A. mellifera queens. In general, queens with the heavier right ovary have a higher number of ovarioles, but there is no significant relation with weight at the emergency. In turn, heavier queens tend to have heavier ovaries and larger spermathecae. | |
