Identification of honey bee sperm structures following the use of various staining techniques

Abstract

Bees are currently artificially inseminated on a large scale for breeding and research purposes. The sperm of bees has a complex and varied structure, and determination of specific morphological defects in it is very difficult. Its comprehensive analysis by inspecting morphology and morphometry is an important tool for improving honey bee lines. The staining technique should interfere with the cells as little as possible while clearly showing the boundaries of the head and other elements. In this study, a comparative analysis of the morphometry of sperm was performed with various techniques for staining drone semen.

Keywords

• apis mellifera
• drone
• sperm morphometry