CONTROL OF PARASITIC MITE Varroa jacobsoni (Acari : Varroidae) ON HONEY BEES BY USING CERTAIN NATURAL MATERIALS

Abstract

The present study was performed in the apiary of the EI­ Sabahiea Research Station, Alexandria during the years 1996, 1997 and 1998. There were two objectives of this investigation, the first is to estimate the level of infestation by the four diagnostic methods of analysis of hive debris (naturally fallen mites), chemical diagnosis usmg Apistan for 24 hrs., inspection of sealed worker brood (100 cells) and inspection of Varroa attached to adult bees (400-500 workers) were studied. The obtained results could be summarized as follows:

There were positive relationship between the obtained results of both diagnostic methods of Apistan application and Varma attached to worker bees. The former method could be recommended as a roughly estimation of any level of infestation, meanwhile the second method could be served as an accurate estimation for Varma infestation in late summer and winter when the brood were limited.

The second objective of this investigations is to evaluate the varrocidal effect of some natural products and the Italian mixture Apilife/var compared with Apistan strips as a chemical product and formic acid. In this regard, four experiments were carried out.