The Relationships Between Propolis Collecting Capability and Morphometric Features of Some Honey Bee Races and Ecotypes in Anatolia

Propolis collecting capacity of the honey bee race, Apis mellifera L., distributed across Anatolia and Thrace regions of Turkey was investigated and correlated with morphometric characteristics. Thus, the propolis collecting behaviour of honey bee races and ecotypes naturally have been in Turkey, Apis mellifera caucasica, Apis mellifera carnica, Apis mellifera syriaca and Yigilca and Mugla ecotype of Apis mellifera anatoliaca were monitored. The mean yield of annual propolis was recorded as the following; Yigilca ecotype (111.6±27.5 g colony) A. m. caucasica (104±20.7 g colony), Mugla ecotype (103±34 g colony), A. m. carnica (91.16±17.6 g colony), and A. m. syriaca (74±6.4 g colony) in descending order. The highest propolis collecting activity was recorded for the Yigilca ecotype of A. m. anatoliaca and A. m. caucasica. Morphological features of honey bee samples were evaluated by classic morphometric technique to correlate propolis collecting capability and morphological features. Morphometric results of the present study showed that the largest wing and leg lengths belonged to Yigilca ecotype of A. m. anatoliaca and A. m. caucasica. Furthermore, Pearson correlation showed a significant relationship between some morphometric characteristics including the proboscis and mandibular sections, wing length (WL), wing width (WW), femur length (FL), tibia length (TL), basitarsus length (BL), basitarsus width (BW), and propolis collecting capability (P<0.05). Therefore, it seems that the enlargement of certain morphological properties with genetic tendency of the honey bee races and ecotypes, primarily the legs and wings, can lead to better propolis collecting capability.