Mellifera.ch
| mellifera.ch | |
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| purpose | Preservation and breeding of the native dark bee |
| Chair: | Dr. Padruot Fried (President) |
| Establishment date: | 1993 |
| Number of members: | approx. 510 |
| Seat : | Miles , Switzerland |
| Website: | www.mellifera.ch |
The aim of the mellifera.ch association is the conservation and breeding of the indigenous dark bees ( Apis mellifera mellifera ), which have become rare in Switzerland, and represents around 510 beekeepers .
Native honeybees that have become rare
The dark bee ( Apis mellifera mellifera ) is a naturally occurring subspecies of the western honey bee ( Apis mellifera ). It is the only originally indigenous honey bee on the entire north side of the Alps and historically the archetype of all honey bees. From 1850 onwards it was crossed by the importation of Carnica and Ligustica bees, and from 1950 onwards it was practically completely displaced from its original range in Switzerland and on the entire north side of the Alps.
The dark bee has practically disappeared in French-speaking Switzerland, and there is no longer a coherent population in the Swiss plateau either. In the Swiss foothills and Alps, however, the dark bee could keep well.
history
In 1993 the Association of Swiss Mellifera Bee Friends (VSMB) was founded. The VSMB has been a member of the Societas Internationalis pro Conservatione Apis mellifera mellifera (SICAMM) since 2002 and organized the international SICAMM conference in the Agricultural Education and Advisory Center Plantahof in Landquart in 2012 .
Since 2006, the association has been the first beekeeping organization in Europe to carry out extensive DNA hybrid tests and, in the event of negative results, replace the hybrid queens with pure-bred Mellifera.
In 2016, the first test rig for the dark bee was set up in the Agroscope Center for Bee Research in Bern-Liebefeld. In October 2016 the name was changed to mellifera.ch.
President
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tasks
The association promotes the breeding as well as the protection of the dark bee. To this end, he maintains one of the most modern breeding programs in Europe to promote the quality of dark bees, coupled with the establishment of protected areas. These protected areas are an important resource to ensure the genetic diversity of the population. The high-quality dark queens in the breeding program are very well received in Switzerland and abroad.
The association has been carrying out DNA hybrid analyzes since 2003 . The spectrum of results today ranges from thoroughbred to strongly hybridized. Because this hybridization only affects a small part of a beehive and can be reliably detected, the level of purebred can be successively increased again through appropriate selection of breeding without losing the genetic breadth.
organization
Active Mellifera breeders work together in the breeding and testing group “Dark Bees Switzerland”. The breed unit is checked with a breeding value estimation system and a DNA analysis. The work of the breeders is public and can be viewed on BeeBreed.
The approximately two dozen test stands provide the basis for the selection with a networked test stand system. Your performance data and breeding values serve as a working basis for pure breeders and locations for selection work.
The pure breeders maintain the breeding population of the dark bees and give the Swiss beekeepers queens of certified queen bees.
The 27 Swiss locations for dark bees secure the population of the now rare dark bees with over 5000 queens annually. These locations are located in remote mountain valleys. A bee-free protective belt around the mating station and selected drone colonies ensure that the young queens are only mated by pure-bred drones.
Cooperations
mellifera.ch is affiliated with the apisuisse breeding commission .
Since 2001 the association has been a member of the International Association for the Preservation of Dark Bees ( SICAMM ).
Since 2006, the ProSpecieRara foundation has been supporting the mellifera.ch association in the preservation of the distressed indigenous dark bees with two projects in the canton of Graubünden : a breed breeding station was set up in Valzeina , and a project to set up a protected area for dark bees was set up in the Biosfera Val Müstair launched.
Since 2008, Swiss Mellifera beekeepers have been able to sell the honey from their dark bees through the Slow Food organization in one of the major Swiss retail companies. This distribution channel is an additional incentive for Mellifera beekeepers to keep the dark bee.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b mellifera.ch: Articles of Association (PDF; 187 kB). In: www.mellifera.ch. Retrieved October 31, 2016 .
- ↑ Balser Fried: Bee races and protected areas in Switzerland. ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Swiss bee newspaper. No. 10, 2014. pp. 12-17.
- ↑ Reto Soland: From the landrace to the Mellifera, the dark bee of Switzerland. In: mellifera.ch. No. 1, 2010, pp. 12–15 (PDF; 3.41 MB).
- ↑ BeeBreed (website).
- ↑ Breeding Commission of apisuisse ( Memento of the original September 16, 2016 Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ Societas Internationalis pro Conservatione Apis mellifera mellifera (SICAMM, website).
- ^ ProSpecieRara (website).
- ↑ New Slow Food products at Coop. In: Coop newspaper . August 12, 2008, No. 33, p. 15 (PDF; 294 kB).
