Saskatchewan's Own Bee Variety

[ooptec]

W/the order of my new lang hive after a few years of horizontal hives found some new kind of bees to stock it w/

http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/agv1008_14

emailed them and will have to wait till may to hear if available

ID Number: 20130110
Title: The Saskatraz Project:The Saskatchewan Honey Bee Breeding and Selection Program
Objective: The objective of this project is (i) to propagate, maintain and improve productive and varroa tolerant Saskatraz families. This will be approached by selecting for Varroa Sensitive Hygiene traits in Saskatraz stock selected for honey production and varroa resistance using recurrent natural selection and new close population mating procedures (single colony mating apiaries) combined with instrumental insemination. Newly discovered biomarker tools will be used; (ii) to identify and validate biomarkers for increased honey production, varroa tolerance and virus resistance (immune) lines; (iii) the third objective is to continue investigations into managing varroa population growth with varroa tolerant Saskatraz stock and selective treatment strategies, using naturally occuring miticides. This objective will also include work on the effects of synthetic miticides and agricultural pesticides on bee health (immune response, detoxification enzymes, etc.), Objective (i) will be the responsibility of Meadow Ridge Enterprises LTD and cooperating Canadian beekeepers. The biomarker work in objective (ii) will be based on our preliminary work that has identified differences in expression of key genes (microarrays) and proteins in kinome arrays that discriminate between varroa susceptible and tolerant phenotypes. The biomarker project will be the responsibility of Dr. Xiao Qiu and associates, U of S, Dr. Philip Griebel, Dr. Scott Napper and associates, VIDO and Meadow Ridge Enterprises Ltd (PI-Dr. Albert Robertson). This project requires the use of the Saskatraz natural selection apiaries, apiaries that must be isolated because of high varroa and pathogenic virus levels. In the third objective (iii) Meadow Ridge will perform field trails with selected Saskatraz stock and collaborate with the molecular biology groups at U.of S and new collaborators, Dr John Giesy and PHD student Yahya Al-Naggar, Toxicology Program Faculty, Toxicology Center, U.of S. to assess the effects of synthetic miticides, agricultural pesticides and fungicides on honey bee gene expression, cellular responses and colony longevity (winter survival).