The viability of sperm in lateral oviducts andspermathecae of instrumentally inseminated and naturally mated honey bee (Apis meiiifera L.) queens

摘要

Instrumentally inseminated queens (HQ) were compared with naturally mated ones (NMQ) to detect the effect of the instrumental insemination procedure on sperm viability in the reproductive organs. The viability of sperm in the reproductive organs of HQand NMQ was determined at 4 h and 24 h after they were inseminated or they mated. No significant difference was found between HQ (88.6%) and NMQ (87.6%) in viability of sperm in the lateral oviducts at 4 h. There was also no difference between HQ (98.3%) and NMQ (97.8%) in viability of sperm in spermathecae at 4 h. The mean viability of sperm in spermathecae of HQ (97.5%) did not differ from the mean viability of sperm in spermathecae of NMQ (96.8%) after 24 h. These results showed that the insemination procedure had no negative effect on viability of sperm in reproductive organs of queens. The difference in sperm viability between lateral oviducts (88.1%) and spermathecae (98.1%) of queens at 4 h was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.001).Nevertheless, no significant difference was found between viability of sperm in spermatheca at 4 h (98.1%) and 24 h (97.2%). The possible reasons for the differences in viability of sperm in reproductive organs are discussed.