Abstract One of the highest quality by-products of honey bee farming in Iran is royal jelly. This study was conducted to eva‎luate the performance of royal jelly in the Iranian and Italian honey bee breeds. Besides, to explore the potential for increasing its production in Iranian breed, two hybrids were examined. Therfore, four groups were established, including 25 repetitions each: group (A) Iranian breed, group (C) Italian breed, group (B) hybrid of Italian queen and Iranian drone, and group (D) hybrid of Iranian queen with Italian drones. The use of improved breeds in crosses with the native Iranian population allowed for a comparison of the breeds in terms of production efficiency and survival capacity. Characteristics such as the amount of royal jelly produced alongside the adaptability of the native population can be utilized to improve traits and enhance production efficiency. The apiaries were established in regions with varying climatic conditions, including Khuzestan (Shush), Isfahan (Mobarekeh and Isfahan), and Shahrekord (Kuharng), over a two-year period. The matings were attempted in an isolated area, after which the colonies were transferred to a vegetation-rich area (Kuharng) for better royal jelly production. Additionally, efforts were made to standardize all colonies to minimize errors within populations. From each group, seven high-power colonies were selected for royal jelly production. A vertical queen excluder network was used along with single-row bars for royal jelly production, and automatic grafting needles were employed for grafting. Royal jelly was collected in six 3 days periods from each hive, and data on the weight of royal jelly was recorded. Subsequently, the acceptance rate of each hive and the amount of royal jelly per cell were calculated. In addition to assessing royal jelly yield, other performance traits such as honey production, bee behavior, pollen storage levels, and colony growth were recorded. After preparing the data, GLM procedure in SAS software was used for mean comparisons. Regarding royal jelly production, group C showed higher performance with an average of 7.05±0.51 (p<0.05). In eva‎luating pollen storage performance, hybrid group B had higher performance with an average of 0.55±0.04 compared to other groups (p<0.05). In terms of defensive behavior, Groups A and D performed better than the other two groups (p< 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis between various performance traits indicated a significant positive correlation was observed between royal jelly production and acceptance percentage (0.75). Total royal jelly production across all periods showed a correlation coefficient of (0.80) with P<0.0001. Population growth and egg-larvae counts also had a positive significant correlation (0.85) with P<0.0001. However, the correlation between royal jelly production and stinging behavior was not significant, indicating that high-producing colonies can also exhibit aggressive stinging behavior. In conclusion, to enhance royal jelly production and other honey bee products in Iran, while achieving a prominent position in this industry, there is a need for conventional breeding improvements alongside crossbreeding systems utilizing exotic breeds. By leveraging the survival potential of native breeds, advancements in this industry can be facilitated.

سعيد انصاري مهياري

مهدي اخوان مقدم , محمدرضا بصيري

مهدي قريشي , قدرت اله سعيدي