title: [The combining ability and heterosis analysis of royal jelly yield and quality properties in western honeybees].
abstract: The NC II mating design of 2 x 4 was made in order to evaluate The combining ability and heterosis of royal jelly yield and quality properties that included royal jelly yield, royal jelly yield per cup, acceptance ratio and acidity in Apis mellifera. The results were as follows: (1) For all characters, general combining ability in six parents (GCA) achieved highly significant level (P < 0.01), special combining ability (SCA) only significant (P < 0.05), therefore the additive effect is more important for royal jelly yield and quality properties; (2) The GCA of A. m. acervorum in four characters was higher, and the SCA variance of A. m. carpatica, A. m. caucasica was greater, so they were good parents. ZND-1 Apis mellifera lingustica in royal jelly yield, royal jelly yield per cup, acceptance ratio was an excellent parent, but A. m. carnica only could be used in increasing royal jelly quality; (3) The heterosis over high-parent is negative, thus it is difficult to improve royal jelly yield and quality by cross breeding, but by appropriate choice of parents, high yield and quality combination can be obtained.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hanzhou 310029, China. yanheliu@263.net
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: B X
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006823:Hybrid Vigor; D000099219:Royal Jelly
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D000099219:Royal Jelly