Period and Time of Harvest Affects the Apitoxin Production in Apis mellifera Lineu (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Bees and Expression of Defensin Stress Related Gene

The aims of this study were to determine the period effects (morning and afternoon) and harvest time (30 and 60 minutes) in the apitoxin production as well as the management effects in the expression of a stress related gene. Five Apis mellifera L. beehives were used. The harvest of apitoxin and honeybees occurred three times a week (morning and afternoon at 09h00 and 14h00), according to the following treatments (period and apitoxin harvest time): T1: morning/30 minutes, T2: morning/60 minutes; T3: afternoon/30 minutes; T4: afternoon/60 minutes. The apitoxin was collected by electric collectors. The stress level was monitored by defensin gene expression, using actin gene as control. The results were evaluated by ANOVA followed by Tukey-Kramer test (p <= 0.05). It can be concluded that the better period and time to apitoxin harvest is in the morning for 60 minutes, associated to minor stress for honeybees.