ABSTRACT This study was done to discover any beneficial effect of a medicinal mushroom Agaricus brasiliensis extract on the honey bee. Firstly, a laboratory experiment was conducted on 640 bees reared in 32 singleuse plastic rearing cups. A. brasiliensis extract proved safe in all doses tested (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg/ day) irrespective of feeding…
Abstract In this study we show that honey bee colonies placed in a greenhouse for pollination of strawberry can simultaneously be used to indicate the presence of the plant pathogenic bacterium Erwinia pyrifoliae. This was demonstrated by using two methods of qualitative sacrificial and non-sacrificial bio sampling of the honey bee colony. A novel method…
Abstract The Small Hive Beetle (SHB), Aethina tumida, is an invasive pest of honey bee colonies that causes significant damage to the beekeeping sector. SHB was detected in southern Italy (EU) in 2014 and despite adopted eradication measures, is still present there. After three years of observations of SHB in Calabria (2014-2016), we provide here…
Abstract We verified the acaricide efficacy on Varroa destructor and the toxicity on honey bees of summer treatments carried out in three different apiaries in Central Italy with an evaporator filled with 290 ml of formic acid 60%. Acaricide efficacy was evaluated counting the number of mites killed by the application of formic acid in the…