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Evaluation of Two Commonly Used Field Tests to Assess Varroa destructor Infestation on Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Colonies

Authors :
Pietropaoli, Marco
Tlak Gajger, Ivana
Costa, Cecilia
Gerula, Dariusz
Wilde, Jerzy
Adjlane, Noureddine
Sánchez, Patricia A., Smodiš Škerl, Maja I.
Bubnič, Jernej
Formato, Giovanni
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Assessment of colony infestation by Varroa destructor is a crucial part of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) applied to beekeeping. Natural mite fall, quantified by counting the mites on sticky sheets, is considered a reference method to estimate varroa infestation level in honey bee colonies. However, in recent years, alternative methods that can be used in field conditions have been investigated. In this paper, we report the results of the evaluation of two different methods to estimate the levels of varroa infestation. The experiment involved 151 honey bee colonies in nine apiaries of four countries (Algeria, Croatia, Italy, Poland). After the main honey flow, we compared the 10-day natural mite fall and the powdered sugar roll methods with the varroa population in each colony. According to our results, the powdered sugar roll method could be suggested to beekeepers as a suitable IPM tool for varroa control, while natural mite fall represents a more accurate method that could be adopted for selection/research purposes.

Details

Language :
Croatian
Database :
OpenAIRE
Accession number :
edsair.57a035e5b1ae..b9c2da3812202afbc2fc2e6e2720b17d
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/