Brood odor discrimination abilities in hygienic honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) using proboscis extension reflex conditioning

To understand rite effect of abnormal brood odors on the initiation ou control of hygienic behavior bl honey bees, we employed the associative learning paradigm, proboscis extension reflex conditioning Bees front two genetic lines(hygienic and non-hygienic) weve able to discriminate between high concentrations of two floral odors equally well. Differential discrimination abilities were observed between the two lines when healthy and diseased brood odors were used, with the bees from the hygienic line discriminating between the pair of brood odors better than the non-hygienic bees. These results suggest that hygienic behavior in individual bees is associated with the bees' responses to olfactory stimuli emanating from diseased brood.