Determination of population dynamics of Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman, base level resistance to acaricides and hygienic behaviour of European honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus
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Date
2015
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CCSHAU
Abstract
Studies were conducted to determine the population dynamics of Varroa destructor, resistance to acaricides and hygienic behaviour of Apis mellifera in three apiaries of Haryana. Mean mite population
per colony was maximum in August (29.8) in Hisar and June in Yamunanagar (30.0) and Karnal (26.0) apiaries and lowest in January in all the apiaries. Among three apiaries, Yamunanagar (14.6) recorded highest mite population followed by Hisar (11.6) and it was lowest in Karnal apiary (10.7). Mite detection by sticky sheet was most effective (14.7 mites/colony) followed by Pettis test method (12.9) and soapy water method (11.4) while powdered sugar method (10.1) was least effective. Colony strength had no bearing on mite population in Hisar and Karnal apiaries while in Yamunanagar, both
low (16.32) and medium (15.95) strength colonies recorded significantly higher populations while high strength colonies had lower populations (2.08). Positive colony production traits were maximum in January and lowest during October in Hisar and Karnal and September in Yamunanagar. Among negative colony production traits, bald brood was highest in June in all apiaries but was lowest in
November in Hisar, January in Yamunanagar and June in Karnal. Parasitic mite syndrome (PMS) was highest in August (12.7) and lowest in January (0.5) and December (0.5) in Yamunanagar. Pettis test conducted to gauge the presence of resistance in V. destructor to acaricide fluvalinate showed higher efficacy (69.17-100.00%) and never below 50 per cent, meaning susceptible populations but lower
efficacy limits of 69.2% indicated impending danger of Varroa resistance. In laboratory assays, LC50 values of fluvalinate (14.701 PPM) and flumethrin (0.460 PPM) were established. Wide variations in hygienic behaviour were recorded among the colonies. It was encouraging to find 26.8 % colonies to be highly and moderately hygienic. Of the 194 colonies sampled, 9 colonies (4.6%) were HS and 43 (22.2%) MS. Majority of colonies exhibited sensitive (S) reaction (75 colonies, 38.7%) and least sensitive reaction (LS) (67 colonies, 34.5%). HS colonies recorded minimum V. destructor population (3.47 mites/colony), and was at par with MS colonies (7.85) while LS colonies recorded maximum mites (16.69) but with non-significant differences with sensitive colonies (11.37). Based on
combination of hygienic behavior and CGPs, 53 colonies were selected for future breeding programme.
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Keywords
apiaries, animal developmental stages, biological phenomena, honey, pesticides, acaricides, biological development, apiculture, selection, apis mellifera