74 Garcia et al. Correlated traits and heritability in Africanized honey bees Sci. Agric. v.70, n.2, p.74-81, March/April 2013 Scientia Agricola ABSTRACT: Phenotypic characters of honeybees, relevant to beekeepers, can be evaluated by studying correlations between them, and the correlated characteristics can be evaluated in the short term to assist in monitoring of annual genetic progress. This work therefore aims to evalu- ate the production of honey and propolis, the hygiene and defensive behaviours of two genera- tions of Africanized Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae), to estimate the correlations between them and their heritability. We used 30 Langstroth beehives in apiaries in Marechal Cândido Ron- don, Paraná State, Brazil. We used a method of drilling pupae to evaluate hygiene behaviour and the velveteen ball method to test defensive behaviour. We selected ten colonies which had the best honey and propolis production, and which produced F1 queens that were then transferred to beehives at an experimental farm, in order to observe honey and propolis production, hygiene and defence behaviours of their female offspring. The estimated differences for each character- istic between the generations, the correlations between them within each generation and their heritability suggest that selection of colonies based on propolis production was more efficient at maintaining this high production than was selection based on honey production according to the performance of the colonies for this characteristic. The selected behavioural characteristics can be used to enhance performance, but not for improving yield characteristics evaluated. Keywords: Apis mellifera, animal production, ethology, selection Received April 28, 2011 Accepted November 13, 2012 1 UNIOESTE/Centro de Ciências Agrárias, C.P. 91 – 85960- 000 – Marechal Cândido Rondon, PR – Brasil. 2 UNIOESTE/Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, C.P. 701 – 85819-110 – Cascavel, PR – Brasil. 3 UEM – Depto. de Zootecnia, Av. Colombo, 5790 – 87020- 900 – Maringá, PR – Brasil. *Corresponding author <garcia.regina8@gmail.com> Edited by: Richard V. Glatz Honey and propolis production, hygiene and defense behaviors of two generations of Regina Conceição Garcia 1 *, Newton Tavares Escocard de Oliveira 1 , Simone Cristina Camargo 1 , Bruno Garcia Pires 2 , Carlos Antonio Lopes de Oliveira 3 , Rodrigo de Almeida Teixeira 1,§ , Maricéia Ana Pickler 1 Introduction The honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera, Ap- idae) is clustered into subspecies or geographical races, based on possession of similar characteristics and region of origin, also called as “races of tropical or temperate evolution” (Rinderer, 1986; Hepburn and Radloff, 1998; Winston, 1987). Although there are morphometric dif- ferences among tropical African races of honeybee, they share many common features that are mainly adaptations to their common tropical environment, called “tropical honeybee characteristics”. These include seek shelter in smaller cavities, to stock less food for the winter period and invest more in offspring than in food, greater capac- ity for swarming and defence, and also are found, in tropical Apis races (Fletcher, 1978; Rinderer, 1986; Gar- cia and Nogueira-Couto, 2003; Winston, 1987). Swarms from 26 colonies of the African honeybee A. m. scutellata L. escaped in Brazil in 1957, making crossing and backcrossing with previously introduced European honeybee races, initiating a hybridization process called “africanization” of the honeybee (Kerr, 1967; Sheppard et al., 1991a,b; Clarke et al., 2002). In less than 50 years, Africanized honeybees had spread throughout South, Central and North America (De Jong, 1996; Kaplan, 2007), replacing of the latter by the for- mer in the Neotropical regions (Lobo and Krieger, 1992; Gusmán-Novoa et al., 2005). This rapid expansion has been attributed to the rapid introgression and increase in the prevalence of mitochondria of African origin of the African genotype in areas previously dominated by European genotypes (Smith et al., 1989), adaptation and reproductive efficiency of the Africanized bees, which inherited adaptive characteristics of their African an- cestors (Fletcher, 1978; Rinderer, 1986; Rinderer et al., 1993; Winston, 1987). Honey production in Brazil grew by 97.3 % and propolis production by 232.7 % in 2001/02 (SEBRAE, 2006), due to export demand. In 2009, the state of Paraná was the second largest producer of honey, and western Paraná accounted for approximately 20 % of this pro- duction (IBGE, 2009), mainly from small producers, who generally do not exchange or select queens and do not produce propolis commercially. The genetic improve- ment of A. mellifera, mainly of European races, for hon- ey production has been practised for decades (Rinderer, 1986); however, little has been achieved in genetic im- provement for propolis production. This work therefore aims to evaluate honey and propolis production, both in the context of its high com- mercial potential in the region, as well as in terms of the hygiene and defence behaviours of two generations of Africanized A. mellifera, and estimates their correlations and heritability. Materials and Methods Africanized A. mellifera L. colonies were utilized in this study and comprised two stages. The first stage Africanized honey bees § Present Address: UFPR – Depto. de Zootecnia, R. dos Funcionários, 1540 – 80035-050 – Curitiba, PR – Brasil.