ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A BREEDING PROGRAMME FOR SETTING UP TWO HIGH PERFORMANCES BEE LINES
This study aimed to evaluate costs, incomes and financial results related to the creation of two Apis Mellifica Carpatica lines, based on a specific Breeding Programme within a closed population. The two beelines have been carefully selected for the bee populations living in two areas of Romania: North Moldavia and South Muntenia. A new selection technology is set up in order to produce high performance queen bees, well adapted to the environmental conditions mainly to picking. Genetic gain will be get by selling the mated selected queens belonging to the two lines to various beekeepers interested to obtain more and high quality bee products.
Laboratory measurement of honey production in the honeybee. 3. Pupal weight of the worker.
SummaryThe relationship between the pupal weight of workers and honey production by their colony was examined for 14 honeybee colonies headed by instrumentally inseminated queens. The mean weight of pink-eyed pupae and colony weight gain during a 19-week test period were significantly correlated (r = 0·680, P<0·01). An analysis of variance on individual pupal weights from progeny of groups of 7 and 9 queens revealed highly significant differences between source colonies (P<0·001). The results support the feasibility of selection of honeybees for increased colony honey production based on the pupal weight of the worker.
Instrumentation and Automated Photometric Titration Procedure for Total Acidity Determination in Red Wine Employing a Multicommuted Flow System
An automated procedure for photometric titration of red wine and associated instrumentation is described. The procedure was based on the flow-batch approach implemented employing multicommutation. The photometric detection was carried out using a homemade LED-based photometer. The mixing device, LED, and photodetector were attached to the titration chamber in order to form a compact and small-sized unit. The flow system comprised an automatic injector and three-way solenoid valves, which were controlled by a microcomputer through an electronic interface card. The software, written in Quick BASIC 4.5, was designed with abilities to accomplish all steps of the titration procedure including data acquisition and real-time processing to decide about the course of titration in the following step and so forth, until the titration endpoint was reached. The usefulness of the proposed titration system was demonstrated by analyzing red wine samples. When results were compared with those obtained using the AOAC reference method, no significant difference was observed at the 95% confidence level. A relative standard deviation of ca  2% (n=9 ) was obtained when processing a typical red wine sample containing 7.3 gl -1 total acidity expressed as tartaric acid.