A Sustainable Approach to Control Varroa Mites - Improving the Quality of Queens using Local Resources

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: bees

Practices

• Crop Production: beekeeping
• Education and Training: technical assistance, workshop
• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
• Pest Management: genetic resistance
• Production Systems: agroecosystems

Wild feral honeybee colonies are one of the best local resources for improving the genetic diversity of honeybees. It is important to educate bee farmers about queen rearing and utilize local resources for sustainable apiculture instead of importing thousands of packages of bees with pathogens and parasites in the United States. The quality of the queen of a honeybee colony is essential for survival. Based on our data, feral queens tend to live longer than commercial queens. We hypothesized that feral queens may tolerate oxidative stress by living longer.

By comparing feral stocks with commercial package colonies, the aims listed below will be achieved:

1) to reveal the quality of flight ability and mating ability, we will compare the flight abilities of virgin queens using flight mills in the lab;

2) to analyze levels of oxidative stress of queen pupae using physiological assays;

3) to reveal the difference in the population, we aim to investigate the genetic variation among different queens, worker, and drones via single-cell sequencing technology with the best accuracy;

4) to educate bee farmers and beekeepers on queen rearing and grafting, the Central State University Research and Extension programs provide hands-on workshops in 2023 and 2024 and customized classes (webinars and field day) on queen grafting, genetic diversity, and queen disease;

5) to work with Purdue University (1862 Land-Grant Institution) and regional queen breeders to select mite biters, and

6) to train students on pollinator health and agricultural research. We work with beekeepers and queen breeders from across the north central region (OH, IN, IL, WV, KY, and PA) on queen breeding efforts.

CSU agricultural and natural resources extension supports farmers in using feral bees with high grooming & mite biting behavior. This research and education program provided by an HBCU and 1890 Land-Grant Institution will improve the genetic diversity of honeybees significantly for the North Central Region. By using local resources of feral colonies, we aim to improve environmental quality by reducing the risks of new pathogens and parasites from importing honey bee colonies to Ohio.

Our objectives/outcomes are:

1) test the flight abilities of virgin queens to achieve the outcome of the knowledge of the flight ability;

2) analyze levels of oxidative stress of pupae;

3) identify new transcriptomic variation among different castes;

4) to provide field days and work with regional queen breeders on instrumental inseminations and breeding for mite-resistant/mite-biter stocks;

5) to organize hands-on workshops and field days for local beekeepers to learn about grafting and queen rearing; and, 

6) to train underrepresented minority students on apiculture, pollinator health, honeybee genetics, and breeding.