Bee Breeding in the Age of Genomics with Dr. Garett Slater

Honey bees pollinate an average of $215 billion worth of crops worldwide each year. Despite high demand, record colony losses are prohibiting beekeepers from supplying their services to pollinator-dependent industries. Therefore, honey bee colonies require genetic improvements in growth; stress tolerance; pest, pathogen, and disease resistance; reproductive capacity; and yield. However, honey bee breeders have produced slow genetic gains in all these areas over the past century because traditional multi-trait breeding programs are time- consuming, expensive, and difficult to integrate into current beekeeping operations.

Beekeepers are still in the early stages of breeding (Step 1: Incidental) and need to enter Step 2 (Statistical Breeding) and Step 3 (Genomic Breeding) to enables breeders to accelerate the breeding cycle, and increase breeding progress. In this talk, Dr. Slater will talk about the stages of breeding and how beekeepers can enter Step 2 and 3.