01/09/2026
T-8 to EurBee11! Contribution #7 of 14, and we're officially past the halfway mark in our countdown to the 11th European Conference of Apidology (7-10 September 2026, Bologna, Italy) - brought to you by Horizon Europe BEE-GUARDS.
Traditional honey bee breeding cycles take around 24 months. What if you could compress that into 12? That's exactly what "Accelerated breeding in honey bees: an innovative approach integrating natural Varroa selection," by Aleksandar Uzunov et al. (UKIM, North Macedonia), sets out to prove.
Since 2023, four countries - North Macedonia, Italy, Poland and Germany - have each run two parallel apiaries: one under conventional Varroa control, one under a deliberately Varroa-challenged regime designed to boost natural selective pressure for resilient genotypes. Multiple performance traits are tracked, including in drone-producing colonies, and generations are already advancing fast: F2 in North Macedonia and Germany, F3 in Italy, and - thanks to instrumental insemination - F4 in Poland.
Next up: beekeepers themselves will test the selected genotypes under real production conditions through a full-season Citizen Science investigation. In parallel, the team is developing s***m and embryo cryopreservation techniques to safeguard genetic diversity for the long term.
This is applied breeding science moving at genuinely unusual speed - with real beekeepers set to be part of the next chapter and genetic material safeguarded for generations to come.
Find out more at the poster in Bologna!
📍 Bologna, Italy | 7-10 September 2026 | beeguards.eu
EU Science & Innovation
