May-Itzá WJ, Medina MLA, Marrufo OJC

Language: English/Spanish
References: 19
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ABSTRACT

The effectiveness of a thymol based gel (12.5 g of thymol in 50 g of gel) for controlling Varroa destructor in commercial honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies under tropical conditions was evaluated. Three groups of honey bee colonies were used, the fi rst group received one tray containing thymol gel (G1), the second group received two trays with thymol gel (G2) and the third group (control) received no treatment (G3).The application of the gels was repeated twice with two weeks between treatments. In total G1 received 2 trays and G2 received 4 trays of thymol gels, thus the honey bee colonies and the mites were exposed to the thymol gels during 30 days. The mite infestation levels in adult bees and capped brood were registered before and after the application of the treatments in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the thymol based gels. The effectiveness of the treatments estimated for adult bees was 97% and 93% for G1 y G2, respectively, and in the capped brood the effectiveness was 94% and 95% for both groups respectively. The results show that the application of one thymol gel (G1) tray with a second application in a 15 day interval (total of two trays) can eliminate ≈95% of the mites in honey bee colonies under tropical conditions and thus can be used as an alternative method for the apiculturist of this region to control this parasite.

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