Uncertainty in the mating strategy causes bias and inaccuracy in estimates of genetic parameters in honeybees

Abstract Background With the increased number of honeybee breeding plans worldwide, records from queens with diversified mating strategies need to be considered. Breeding queens might be inseminated with drones produced by a single drone-producing queen (DPQ), or by a group of sister-DPQs. Often, only the dam of DPQ(s) is reported in the pedigree. Furthermore, datasets might include colony phenotypes from DPQs that were open mated in different locations. Using simulation, we investigated the impact of the mating strategy on estimates of genetic parameters and breeding values, when the DPQs were treated in different ways in the statistical evaluation model. We quantify the bias and standard error of estimates when breeding queens are mated to a single or a group of DPQs, assuming that this information is either known or not. We also investigated two alternative strategies to accommodate phenotypes of open-mated DPQs in the genetic evaluation, adding either a dummy pseudo sire in the pedigree, or a non-genetic effect to the statistical evaluation model to account for the origin of the DPQs’ mates. Results When breeding queens were inseminated with semen from drones of a single DPQ and this was known, estimates of genetic parameters and genetic trends were more precise. If they were inseminated using drones from a single or a group of DPQs, and this information was not known, erroneous assumptions led to considerable bias in the estimates. For colony phenotypes of open-mated DPQs, adding a dummy pseudo sire in the pedigree for each mating location led to considerable overestimation of genetic variances, while correcting for the mating area by adding a non-genetic effect in the evaluation model gave unbiased estimates. Conclusions Knowing only the dam of the DPQ(s) in the mating may lead to erroneous assumptions on how DPQs were used and cause severe biases in estimates of genetic parameters and genetic trends. Therefore, keeping track in the pedigree of which DPQ(s), and not only which dam of DPQ(s) are used, is recommended. Records from DPQ colonies with queens open mated to a heterogeneous drone population can be integrated by adding non-genetic effects to the statistical evaluation model.