Survey of diseases and parasites of honeybees {apis mellifera l.)‎ in Sudan

Abstract EN

A survey of the honeybee diseases and parasites including questionnaires were carried out in eight bee areas in Sudan during the season 2002 / 03.

About 117 local colonies and 324 packages of imported colonies of Apis milliner were inspected, in addition to 25 colonies of Apis florae.

All areas were found to be free of most bacterial brood diseases and fungal diseases, except the bacterial brood disease (Serratia marcescens) which was merely detected in 2.6% of Khartoum colonies.

However, non infective dysentery was the only adult disease found during this study infecting 18.2% of Kordofan colonies.

On the other hand, the parasitic mite (Varroa Jacobson) was reported as first record in Sudan, detected only in Khartoum State infecting about 75% of colonies in apiaries and 27% of wild colonies.

Sudanese honeybees were found to be characterized by hygienic behavior of colonies which resist most pests and diseases, and no chemicals were used for control.