Among eight components of avermectin, B1 fractions have the most effective antiparasitic activities and the lowest level of toxic side-effects and are used widely in veterinary and agricultural fields. In-traspecific protoplast fusion between two strains of Streptomyces avermitilis, one an avermectin high producer (strain 76-05) and the other a genetically engineered strain containing the mutations aveDˉ and olmAˉ (strain 73-12) was performed for enhancement and selective production of avermectin B in the absence of oligomycin. Two recombinant strains (F23 and F29) were isolated and characterized with regards to the parental merits. F23 and F29 produced only the four avermectin B components with high yield and produced no oligomycin. The avermectin production of F23 and F29 was about 84.20% and 103.45% of the parental strain 76-05, respectively, and increased about 2.66-fold and 3.50-fold, re-spectively, compared to that of parental strain 73-12. F23 and F29 were genetically stable prototrophic recombinants and F29 was quite tolerant of fermentation conditions compared to avermectin high producer parental strain 76-05. The ability to produce avermectin B with high yield without the produc-tion of other avermectin components and oligomycin will make F23 and F29 useful strains for aver-mectin production. Strain F29’s tolerance of fermentation conditions will also make it suitable for in-dustrial applications. Among eight components of avermectin, B1 fractions have the most effective antiparasitic activities and the lowest level of toxic side-effects and are used widely in veterinary and agricultural fields. In-traspecific protoplast fusion between two strains of Streptomyces avermitilis, one an avermectin high producer (strain 76-05) and the other a genetically engineered strain containing the mutations aveDˉ and olmAˉ (strain 73-12) was performed for enhancement and selective production of avermectin B in the absence of oligomycin. Two recombinant strains (F23 and F29) were isolated and characterized with regards to the parental merits. F23 and F29 produced only the four avermectin B components with high yield and produced no oligomycin. The avermectin production of F23 and F29 was about 84.20% and 103.45% of the parental strain 76-05, respectively, and increased about 2.66-fold and 3.50-fold, re-spectively, compared to that of parental strain 73-12. F23 and F29 were genetically stable p rototrophic recombinants and F29 was quite tolerant of fermentation conditions compared to avermectin high producer parental strain 76-05. The ability to produce avermectin B with high yield without the produc- tion of other avermectin components and oligomycin will make F23 and F29 useful strains for aver -mectin production. Strain F29’s tolerance of fermentation conditions will also make it suitable for in-dustrial applications.