تأثير حجز ملكة نحل العسل في منتصف الموسم في تطور مجتمعي طفيل الفاروا Varroa destructor و طائفة النحل Apis mellifera

Abstract EN

Encaging honeybee queen is one of the integrated pest management methods applied by beekeepers to control varroa mite.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of this process on honeybees (Apis mellifera) and Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) populations.

Results showed that the queen encaging method gave high efficiency in decreasing the varroa population with significant (P=0.01) average reduction of 74.26%, in comparison with control hives with an average natural drop which increased from 14.2 to 19.4 varroa individuals per day at a rate of 29.8%.

The effect of this method was limited on the development of bee colonies which recovered quickly after queens release, as the number of broods and adults increased gradually and reached 10725 and 24375, respectively, in the middle of November in comparison with control hives (9588 and 20850, respectively).

Such result suggest that there is a potential for applying this method in the integrated management of varroa mite.