VARROOSIS DIAGNOSIS THROUGH BROOD SYMPTOMS AND MITE COUNTS.

The parasitic mite Varroa destructor Anderson&Trueman (Acari: Varroidae) is the most detrimental pest of the honeybee Apis mellifera. Adult female mites are phoreticand feed on adult worker and drone bees. They leave their adult hosts to invade brood cells occupied by mature bee larvae just before worker bees seal the cells with wax. Colonies infested by V. Destructor will eventually suffer delete rious effects. It is observed that the honey bee brood exhibit typical damage symptoms, such as scattered brood nest and crippled bees when the varroosis is at later stage of development. The aim of this work was to evaluate the brood symptoms in correlation with mite detection on adult bees and on sticky boards. We compared three groups of eight colonies. Different modalities were applied to the groups: untreated group (control), Apivar®-treated group, and over-treated group. Four complete visits occurred between October 2009 and April 2010. At each visit, adult bees were sample from each colony. Varroa were dislodged from bees by washing the bees with alcohol. Honeybee population was evaluated on each colony frame. Symptoms on brood and on adult bees were recorded. Varroas were counted on sticky boards every two weeks to look at the natural fall for the control group or falls due to acaricide treatments for the two other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]