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In apicoltura nell'ambito di un efficace controlo dele patologie, è necessario l'utilizzo di sostanze ad azione farmacologica di origine naturale che rispettino la salubrità del miele e degli altri prodotti dell'alveare. Gli Autori hanno sperimentato l'efficacia dell'acido linoleico quale antimicrobico naturale nella profilassi della peste americana, grave e diffusa infezione che colpisce la covata delle api mellifere

Honey bees are pollinators that play a key-role in plant biodiversity conservation and crop production. This unique insect species has been managed in hives by beekeepers for millennia, even though such a peculiar animal production system never resulted in the domestication of the western honey bee. The western honey bee was originally distributed throughout most of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, part of the Arabian Peninsula and some parts of Central Asia. From Europe, the honey bee was introduced to America, Asia and Oceania. This adaptation to a range of environmental conditions, together with geological and climatic changes in past eras, has resulted in grouping of Apis mellifera into 31 subspecies. In the last 150 years, technological advances in beekeeping and globalisation have heavily endangered conservation of the native subspecies of A. mellifera in Europe, with an impact on honey bee production and health status. Evaluation of the impact of this phenomenon on the ecological equilibrium is still ongoing, but there is already scientific evidence of negative effects that this problem is having on beekeeping. This document sets forth the scientific arguments in support of the conservation of native subspecies, and lists the existing Italian legislation in terms of subspecies protection initiatives. It also lists the main factors that are contributing to loss of genetic diversity and of local adaptations. This document does not intend to oppose the actions of the beekeeping industry, but rather to contribute to a more global vision of the very serious problem of honey bee decline.

Dopo una panoramica sul mondo dei funghi, vengono trattate le principali micosi che interessano l'alveare: ascosferosi o covata calcificata, aspergillosi o covata pietrificata e la muffa del polline (Bettsia alvei).

It has been recently demonstrated that honeybees can be used to monitor the presence of Erwinia amylovora in the environment. The monitoring protocol involves setting up stations (consisting of three hives each) in infected areas, at the edges of infected areas, or in apparently non-infected areas. From 2000 to 2002, over 500 samples of pollen and honeybees were analysed for the fire blight pathogen by a new chemiluminescent PCR-ELISA rapid method. This monitoring programme demonstrated that honeybees can be an efficient and economic tool to detect the bacterium, even in the absence of symptoms. In fact, in several cases, E. amylovora was detected in samples from areas where no symptoms of fire blight had been observed. On the basis of results presented at the 9th International Workshop on Fire Blight, a study was carried out in 2002 to evaluate, under greenhouse conditions, the role of honeybees in the dissemination of E. amylovora from experimentally inoculated pear flowers and contaminated hives to healthy pear flowers and honeybee matrixes. Our results show that, after contamination, honeybees can act as carriers of live bacterial cells of E. amylovora for only 48 hours. After this period, no viable E. amylovora cells were found in non-inoculated pear flowers visited by insects, on honeybee bodies or intestines, or in any of the analysed beehive products (honey, pollen and wax). These and previous results provide useful data to establish prophylactic operating procedures to allow beehive movement in disease-free areas. The quarantine procedures mandate closing the hives and keeping them in a temperature controlled chamber (between 15 and 20°C) for 48 hours, or for 24 hours only if they have been treated with oxalic acid, which inhibits E. amylovora.

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