In the late eighties and early 1990s , trachea and Varroa mitesarrived in North America with import Honey bee from Asia . Since then , researchers have been working furiously to keep bees healthy and on the job pollinating harvest and producing beloved .
Sniffing Out DiseaseIn the forties , researchers work to work out the wellness challenge of American foulbrood , a transmittable bacterial disease affecting bee larvae , find that Honey bees can smell disease in their own develop brood . Hives practicing in effect hygienics observe and strip out unhealthful brood , keeping diseases from spreading . Although the bees sacrifice their own larva , they ’re able-bodied to maintain better community health without outside help or chemical aids .
make on this knowledge , Jeff Harris , a inquiry entomologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service ’s Honey Bee Breeding , Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory in Baton Rouge , La. , has been charged with multiply bee to be resistive to Varroa mites .
“ It turns out the bees bred to prevent American foulbrood or chalk brood in their hives are sound at remove the Varroa mites , too , ” Harris explains .
The employment of multiply bees is a slow process . Only one generation of bee can be farm in a yr so it take years to attain resistor and then determine how the bees are resistant .
Harris has developed Honey bees capable of the hygienics needed to winnow out Varroa in developing cells . bee with this trait , called Varroa sensitive hygienics , exhibit nest - clean behavior good for their colony .
Varroa - mite DevelopmentVarroa mites are bantam , fast - incite parasites capable of attaching themselves to both the adult and developing Honey bee . The adult female Varroa place her testis in brood cells give offspring to feed in on the developing bee pupa . The resultant babe bees are scraggy and weaken enough to be more susceptible to the spread of virus .
The bee that Harris has been producing can smell the mites inside the brood cells and wipe out the progeny to keep the mite universe from exploding inside the dependency .
Further InvestigationWhile Harris has been cover for VSH , Greg Hunt , Ph.D. , a bee specialist at Purdue University , has been genetically selecting bee for increased groom behavior .
“ We are selecting for increase prepare behavior by expect at the proportion of chewed mites that fall from bee , ” Hunt says . In quislingism with Harris , Hunt is working to map gene regions in Honey bee DNA for VSH .
“ Greg ’s expertness is looking for the markers in bees I raise , ” Harris explains . A cognitive process that took four to six months of field testing has been reduced to time of day in terms of identifying the most desirable VSH queens .
Taking WingDave Shenefield , possessor of Clover Blossom Honey , has a specialty crop grant from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to make more mite - tolerant , sturdy queens usable in Indiana . His Ulysses Grant also enable him to teach beekeepers how to upraise their own poof bee and select for mite electric resistance .
“ I ’ve been working with Dr. Hunt on the development of soupcon - resistive stock for about 20 eld , ” Shenefield allege . “ I felt it was a must for Indiana to develop its own queen project where we get genetically diverse stocks and propagate them throughout the state to hopefully help sustain beekeeping in Indiana . ”
According to Shenefield , increased awareness of the plight of Honey bee has brought a stack of new people to the sideline . citizenry are interested and want to help and get involved by study to keep bees and constitute their own hives .
Shenefield aims to add multifariousness to Indiana bees and learn new apiculturist how to develop their own soupcon - resistive urticaria . He also learn integrated pest direction , nonchemical approach to treat hive for mites .
“ My personal ruling is that hobbyist do n’t have to habituate chemicals to control mites , ” Harris adds . “ Glenn Apiaries in California is an expert and the largest seller of breeder queens . Purebred VSH breeders are being crossed with non - VSH drones to produce outcrop VSH bees . The outcrop VSH bees prevent the potential for inbreeding among the VSH lines . ”
purchase VSH outcrop bee enables hobby beekeepers to maintain chemical substance - free hives . Without the chemicals , hobby beekeepers can debar all concerns about contaminant of cockscomb , wax and honey .
Still , Shenefield say that a queen that ’s mated in your own bee yard is probably the best queen to have .
