Debunking the myth about high tolerance of Russian bees and VSH bees to Varroa mites.

As it is known, Varroa mites are one of the biggest problems in beekeeping today, and therefore, naturally, this area is given special attention. For beekeepers, this is a huge problem, leading to the death of bees and large material costs. For beekeeping businessmen, these are colossal profits from both the sale of low-efficiency chemicals and the sale of so-called "varroa-tolerant" bee breeds.

How are such myths formed... Let's consider this using the example of a scientific article from an Australian entomology journal, one of the authors of which is one of the most serious US scientists studying the problem of varroatosis in bees - Thomas Rinderer. The article - Responses to Varroa destructor and Nosema ceranae by several commercial strains of Australian and North American honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Thomas E Rinderer,1* Benjamin P Oldroyd,2 Amanda M Frake,1 Lilia I de Guzman1 and Lelania Bourgeois1 (1Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Laboratory, USDA-ARS, 1157 Ben Hur Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70820, USA. 2Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.) is published in the Australian Journal of Entomology (2013) 52, 156–163

The article, beautifully formatted according to all the rules of scientific publications, tells us the following.... The abstract of this article summarizes the results of a well-designed and executed experiment, which compared the percentage of mite infestations in colonies of four breeds of bees - Australian natives, American Italian, Russian, and a certain VSH breed.

How beautiful it all looks! I just want to shout – Americans and Australians, buy only Russian bees and the VSH line!

But this is a complete and possibly deliberate deception!

Let's start with the fact that the initial data on the mite infestation of all experimental families were averaged, which gave some average mite infestation of 2.6%, although in reality it was from 2 to 4%%. Accordingly, the rate of growth of mite infestation could not be the same in principle.

Secondly, the results of the study indicate that during May, June and July there was practically no increase in infestation in all breed lines, and then from August to October there was a sharp jump in the growth of the mite population! Apparently, the article was written by those, who did not know that May is a winter month in Australia, and June, July and August are spring months! And September and October are the first months of summer! But everyone knows that a sharp increase in the mite population occurs precisely at the end of spring - beginning of summer!

So there is no mystery here - in winter the mite population does not grow or grows very slightly, which was demonstrated by the data for May, June and July.

What else is wrong here? Here's what - among the unfortunate Italian and Australian bees, almost half of the families died, and among Russian and VSH families, only about 4% died. From this, a far-reaching conclusion was made that, of course, Russian bees and VSH lines have a high tolerance to Varroa mites.

Unfortunately, this is another oversight of scientists, or a deliberate bluff. The fact is that, firstly, the final levels of mite infestation of all families are proportional to a slightly greater or lesser degree to their initial mite infestation, and secondly, in Australian and Italian bees they are so high that the bees died already in early to mid-summer. This is exactly what we have always claimed! If the percentage of bees infestation in the spring is more than 2%, then the death of the bees is inevitable before the end of the season. And so it happened. Russian and VSH families had a lower initial mite infestation and a slightly slower development rate, but they also came to October with fairly high percentages of mite infestation, although not lethal at the moment. Most likely, the death of families would have been just as high, but pushed back further into the fall.

Now let's look at our version of events based on the data obtained by our "respected" scientists.

As you can see from the table, the main measurements were taken in winter and early spring months. Therefore, it is natural that there are practically no changes in the mite infestation during May, June and July. With the beginning of spring, a sharp increase began, with results corresponding to the initial mite infestation of the families. However, since it was only the beginning of spring, the theoretical rate of increase in mite infestation of two times a month was not achieved in any of the families of any breed. And, oddly enough, the closest to it were the "varroa-tolerant" bees of the VSH lines. For other breeds, this coefficient was even lower. Moreover, for the Italian bee breed from the USA, it was almost 2 times lower!

And, finally, the most important thing. If we compare the growth rates of mite infestation in families of different breeds over 2 months of spring, we will see that the data will be radically different from the data offered by our "respected" scientists.

So:

The first place was taken by Italian bees with a mite growth coefficient of 1.88. The second place was taken by Russian bees with a mite growth rate of 2.44. (But it should be noted that the spring growth rate of Russian bees is somewhat lower than other breeds.) The third place was taken by Australian bee lines with a mite growth rate of 2.73. And the last place was taken by bees of the VSH line with a mite growth rate of 3.58.

The results are almost exactly the opposite!

What conclusion can be drawn from this experiment? It seems to me that the main conclusion is that there are no bees that will solve the problem of Varroa mites in their hives on their own, without our participation. Given the decreasing effectiveness of chemical acaricides, it is necessary to turn to simple and understandable zootechnical methods of combating Varroa mites. And first of all, this is to stop the reproduction and sale of bees in divisions with brood! And secondly, to create such conditions in the hives so that the rate of reproduction of mites is significantly reduced. In this case, the overall effect will be much higher than that of chemical acaricides. Moreover, simultaneously on a national scale.

Erroneous conclusions about the high resistance of Russian bees to Varroa mite infestation made in 1998 based on experiments conducted in Louisiana, USA.

 In terms of our previous conversation about the reliability of conclusions made as a result of experiments, I want to say that this does not always depend on the representativeness of the sample. In the two articles below, the analysis of which we published in our journals, in our opinion, scientists made a number of mistakes that led to a conclusion that is radically opposite to the correct one.

-----------------

Let's look at one of the early articles by Mr. Rinderer and company, written based on the results of a comparative experiment with Russian and local bees to confirm the greater Varroa resistance of Russian bees compared to the local bee with Italian roots.

Resistance to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in honey bees from far-eastern Russia Thomas E. RINDERERa*, Lilia I. DE GUZMANa, G.T. DELATTEa, J.A. STELZERa, V.A. LANCASTERb, V. KUZNETSOVc, L. BEAMANa, R. WATTSa, J.W. HARRISa a USDA-ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Laboratory, 1157 Ben Hur Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70820-5502, USA b Neptune & Company, Inc. 1505 15th Street, Suite B, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA c Institute of Biology and Pedology, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690022, Russia (Received 15 February 2001; revised and accepted 18 May 2001)

In it, they actively demonstrate the superiority of Russian bees over local bees in terms of resistance to Varroa mites. The data obtained at the experimental apiary over 2 years of observations and control of mite infestation in families of the local and Russian breeds should have convinced everyone that the difference in resistance to Varroa mites is colossal, and it is necessary, accordingly, to promote this breed on the US market. But, we want to say that, unfortunately, the experiment was not carried out well and the conclusions were incorrect! But at first, let's read the summary of the article and add our comments ...

The main problem with this experiment is that the apiaries were set up in Louisiana, a place with warm winters and hot summers. However, Russian bees have the peculiarity of starting brood rearing late and finishing it early. Accordingly, the main factor that influences the size of the mite population in their families is the number of months without brood or with a minimal amount of it.

This is clearly visible in the figure. In the families of Russian bees, designated by the symbol P in the diagram, the increase in the number of mites begins only in April. It is clearly visible that approximately the same number of mites in the families occurs - in Russian in April, and in local in February! At least 2 months difference!

In addition, it is clearly visible that in August the number of mites in Russian bee families already drops sharply. This is evident both from the data of 1998 and from the data of 1999. At the same time, in the families of local bees the level of mite infestation does not drop, but grows all autumn and winter! The reason is that in the families of local, American bees, designated by the symbol D in the diagram, the brood was present all winter. The text of the article explains why there is no data for December 1998 and January 1999 - they were afraid of chilling the brood! As a result, the population growth began not only with values ​​2-3 times greater, as can be seen from the data of autumn 1998, but also 3-4 months earlier than in Russian bee families.

This is precisely what caused the Varroa mite population in local bee families to peak at 10,000 mites, while in Russian bee families there were only 4,000 mites. But this does not mean that they will live peacefully in the future. If not this fall, then next spring the mite population will definitely gain its deadly strength and all the bees will die just like the local American bees.

But that's not all! If you look at the table of mite population growth/decline coefficients obtained by our would-be experimenters, we will see full confirmation of our findings! The Varroa mite population growth coefficients in families of both breeds were almost identical! For the local breed - 4.06, for the Russian - 3.39. The difference can be determined by the condition of the families and nothing more! At the same time, it is clearly visible that the peak of mite population growth in local families occurred in February-March, and in Russian families - in March-April! In addition, it is clear that the starting values ​​of mite infestation in June-July 1998 differed by 1.5 times! This also led to a sad result for local bees.

So, we can say that the experiment has definitely confirmed the almost complete absence of differences in the tolerance of bees of the American local breed and Russian bees from Primorsky Krai to Varroa mites! The conclusions made in the article are either a misunderstanding of the issue or the fulfillment of a commercial order from sponsors.