Evaluating Efficacy of Fumagilin-B® Against Nosemosis and Tracking Seasonal Trends of Nosema spp. in Nova Scotia Honey Bee Colonies

The efficacy of the antimicrobial Fumagilin-B against nosemosis was evaluated in both spring and autumn feeding treatments following label directions in seventy-two honey bee ( ) colonies across three apiaries in Nova Scotia, Canada. The seasonal trend of spp. spore loads was also tracked in these s...

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Published inJournal of Apicultural Science Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 277 - 286
Main Authors McCallum, Robyn, Olmstead, Sawyer, Shaw, Jillian, Glasgow, Kathleen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Pulawy Sciendo 01.12.2020
De Gruyter Poland
Subjects
administrative management
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
apiaries
Apis mellifera
Autumn
Bees
Colonies
decline
Fumagilin-B
Honey
honey bee colonies
honey bees
Nosema
Nosema apis
Nosema ceranae
nosema disease
nosema spp
Nova Scotia
sampling
Spores
spp
Spring
Spring (season)
summer
Canada
Nova Scotia Canada
Nova Scotia
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Summary:The efficacy of the antimicrobial Fumagilin-B against nosemosis was evaluated in both spring and autumn feeding treatments following label directions in seventy-two honey bee ( ) colonies across three apiaries in Nova Scotia, Canada. The seasonal trend of spp. spore loads was also tracked in these same colonies throughout a thirteen-month period (February 2018 – March 2019). We found the spring Fumagilin-B treatment to be effective at significantly suppressing spp. spore levels below the recommended treatment threshold. There was no effect of Fumagilin-B treatment in the autumn based on low spore levels at this time. We detected a drastic increase in spp. spore loads as May progressed but a decline in spores in summer (June–September). By October, there was another increase in spore levels, but this increase did not exceed the economic treatment threshold. Across seventeen collection periods in both control and Fumagilin-B colonies, 74% (25) of samples tested positive for , while 26% (9) contained no spp. spores. No spores were detected during this trial. Our results indicate that Fumagilin-B is an effective management practice in the spring, but colonies should still be monitored in the autumn. Our data also support that the species profile is shifting to be exclusively and the treatment threshold for Fumagilin-B may need to be updated to reflect this, as the threshold was originally developed for
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ISSN:2299-4831
1643-4439
2299-4831
DOI:10.2478/jas-2020-0025