Honeybee 'fight' against Varroa parasite

Honey bees are currently battling Varroa, however, with the help of the Center for Agricultural Research (ARS), research has developed typical genetic traits that allow honey bees. This easily detects ticks and expels them from the nest.

Varroa mite attacks the honey bee, Apis mellifera L, by taking food in lymphatic blood, which dissolves between blood and fluid inside a bee. Flocks of bees may be weak or killed, depending on the severity of the parasite being parasitic. Most swarms of bees usually die when varroa is infected if they are not treated.

Hygienic cleaning (VSH) is a typical characteristic of honey bees to remove all varroa-infected pupae from cells in each honeycomb hole under the protection of beeswax. These ticks are often difficult for honey bees to locate because they attack the bees while those growing bees are located deep inside the enclosed cells.

ARS researchers are working to develop hydrophobic honey bees with varroa ticks, a parasite and also a major cause of rapid decline in honey bees today. (Photo: Stephen Ausmus)

ARS scientists at the honey bee genetics and genetic research department in Baton Rouge, La., Are developing this honey bee with a high feasibility of VSH properties. Honey bees are instinctively hard to clean and they often remove infected larvae from their nests. VSH is a typical form of nest hygiene focused on removing all infected larvae due to varroa attack. The VSH honey bee is completely aggressive in its pursuit of this parasitic mite. This bee will call on the herd, and remove the cover, push the infected pupae and ticks out of the nest.

This cleaning industriousness will help kill weak ticks, reducing the long-term reproductive performance of female ticks. The female tick can survive and survive through trials and try to reproduce into herds again, and try to cope with the bee's reaction.

To test varroa viable pre-VSH bees, the Baton Rouge team conducted field trials using up to 40 bees with different levels of hygiene. The growth in tick numbers is much lower in VSH and bee colonies than in colonies with no VSH characteristics. The colonies of bees with half of VSH genes are often found in pure VSH bees, but they still maintain varroa resistance. The simpler ways for beekeepers to test the attitude of bee VSH in the herd were also studied and developed in this study. This study is published in the Journal of Apicultural Research and Bee World.