Evaluating the impact of jatropha oil extract against the Varroa mite, Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Arachnida: Acari: Varroidae), infesting honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera L.)

Abstract The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Arachnida: Acari: Varroidae), is a severe external parasitic mite of honeybees that causes great losses of colonies globally. Four concentrations (1, 2%, 5, and 10%) of Jatropha curcas oil were tested for controlling the Varroa mite...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saad H. D. Masry, Tarek E. Abd El-Wahab, Mohamed Rashad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2020-07-01
Series:Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41938-020-00292-3
Description
Summary:Abstract The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Arachnida: Acari: Varroidae), is a severe external parasitic mite of honeybees that causes great losses of colonies globally. Four concentrations (1, 2%, 5, and 10%) of Jatropha curcas oil were tested for controlling the Varroa mite. Significant effects of reducing percentage of the mite infestation (P = 0.05) after second treatment for sealed brood and after third treatment for adult workers in all tested concentrations of J. curcas were recorded. The low concentrations 1 and 2% of J. curcas were more effective than the higher ones 5 and 10% on reduction of percentage of Varroa mite infestation. Moreover, the colonies treated with the lowest concentrations of jatropha oil had the highest amount of brood area (75.75 and 77.50 inch2) and the highest number of combs covered with bees compared with the colonies treated with the concentrations 5 and 10%. Treated colonies with the concentrations 1, 10, and 5% had a high amount of stored honey and pollen grains, 126.50, 111, and 96 inch2 and 11.25, 9.75, and 9.75 inch2, respectively. Obtained results encourage researchers to study deeply the ability of using jatropha oil in the widely field of Apicultural.
ISSN:2536-9342