Investigation of the Efficacy of Medicinal Plant Extracts Against Varroosis in Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Colonies in Van Lake Basin
Project no. 274 · Status: Kapanmış · 2017
Summary
This study was carried out to determine the effect of Juniperus excelsa (Juniper), Juglans regia (Walnut), Origanum onites (Origanum), and Mentha spicata (Spearmint) plants, whose active components are known, dosed and used empirically by beekeepers, in the conditions of Van Lake Basin where constant and traveling beekeeping is done intensively, against Varroa destructor, the causative agent of Varroosis disease, which extinguishes bee colonies. For this purpose, 40 bee colonies which naturally infested with Varroa destructor with similar colony power in plastic pollen drawers were selected from the colonies in the beekeeping research and application center of Van Yuzuncu Yil University. In the field study, a total of 40 bee hives (group varroa loads close to each other), 8 of which were used for Juniperus excelsa, Juglans regia, Origanum onites, Mentha spicata extracts and 8 hives for the control group were used. Fieldwork was conducted as a pretreatment study in which the appropriate extract dose is determined and autumn-spring study which investigated the effectiveness of the predetermined appropriate dose. At the beginning and end of the spraying, 300 bees were collected from each hive and the varroa load on them was calculated by the powdered sugar method. In the pretreatment study, six different doses of 10 grams of 4 different extract, which were prepared at 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% concentration, were absorbed into cotton facial cleansing pads and deposited on frames with offspring. As a result of the statistical analyses performed according to negative binomial regression analysis of the data detected in the pre-treatment, the minimum common applicable dose was determined as 25% drug application dose for all four drug groups. In order to determine the effectiveness of 10 grams extracts prepared at a density of 25% were applied to the groups consisting of eight hives 3 times in one-week intervals during the two seasons of autumn and spring. At the beginning and end of the spraying, 300 bees were collected from each hive and the varroa load was calculated by the powdered sugar method. According to the Henderson-Tilton formula applied to the results of powdered sugar in autumn spraying, the efficiency level of the 25% doses of extracts was calculated as 87% for walnut leaf extract, 86% for juniper leaf extract, 83% for origanum extract and 68% for spearmint extract. In the spring spraying, on the other hand, the efficiency level of 25% of the extracts was calculated as 66% for origanum, 63% for walnut leaf, 61% for juniper leaf and 55% for spearmint. Following the application 3rd, 5th, 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th days of the fall spraying and 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, 35th days of the spring spraying, according to the statistical negative binomial regression analysis applied to the data obtained whether the drug effect level has changed between the count days according to the number of mites detected in the pollen drawer, the number of falling mites can be changed in days following the spraying. When all the results are evaluated together, it is determined that varroa is an inevitable fact that should be tackled, and as an alternative to the drugs that leave residues in honey and other apiculture products, proper doses of herbal extracts which are easy to apply especially in autumn period can be used as a varroacid.