>BEANS, beans the musical fruit comes in time of need to the
>keepers of bees! Or is it all just passing gas? <snip>
I gather from the ridicule that you poured out on the subject of neem
research and honeybees, that you do not have much use for the researchers or
their methods, Andy. For all I know about the subject, and that is next to
nothing, you could be perfectly correct. However, my curiosity was aroused,
and I wanted to get beyond the ridicule to obtain some facts about what the
experiments involved and what the results were. However, when I send an
e-mail to the address that was given:
>Research Branch
>Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
>P.O. Box 29
>Beaverlodge, Alberta
>T0H 0C0
>
>Tel. (403) 354-2212
>Fax (403) 354-8171
>EM OTTB::EM380MAIL
>Internet [log in to unmask] ---Here is where I mailed to
>
>Apiculture pathology T.P. Liu, Ph.D.
>Apiculture (seconded out) T.I. Szabo, Ph.D.
I got a return message (from Beaver Lodge, so that much was correct) saying
that there is no such mail address.
Does anyone know who is actually doing experiments on bees using neem and
what their address is? It is a little bit unclear in your post whether
these are the people doing the research. I don't think it was your
intention to encourage people to spend time investigating this! :-)
Have a nice day Stan
>
>
> The Northern Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) improves production
> systems for crops, honey bees, and other pollinating insects adapted
> to environmental conditions in northwestern Canada. It also develops
> technology for managing the soil, water, and climatic resources of the
> region, for a productive and sustainable agricultural industry. The
> centre has breeding programs in canola, wheat, and honey bees. Our
> major crops are
> * cereal grains
> * pulse crops
> * forage seed production
> * oilseeds.
>
> The Fort Vermilion field site develops crop management systems for
> oilseeds, cereals, and pulse crops.
>
> Achievements
>
> l l This l l looks l l real l l good l l .....
>
> Controlling chalkbrood disease of honeybees It's an environmentalist's
> dream: a natural pesticide found in the seeds of the neem, one of the
> most common trees in India and Burma. Neem extract controls diseases
> and pests of crops, yet leaves pollinating insects and mammals
> unharmed. Neem extract was tested and results showed that treated
> colonies had 350% less chalkbrood and 100% less nosema than control
> colonies. Treated colonies also collected 3.5 times more pollen and
> produced 1.5 times more honey.
>
>----------------------------------OLd Drone Comments--------------------
>The Honey Producer in me says:
>
>*WOW 1 and 1/2 more honey, up the mites, we all should be feeding
> this chemical and get the increase in honey production, have cleaner
> bees, and any residue in the honey will cure MS along with a few
> bee stings in the right places.........after all its a natural poison.
>
>AND The farmer Almond grower who pays me says:
>
>**HOT DOG, up the mites, up the honey, up the bee keepers, collecting
> 3.5x the pollen, HOT DOG! How much of this stuff do you need..
>_________________________end of comment-------------------------------
>
> Biological control of tracheal mites in the honey bee Breeding honey
> bees that are resistant to tracheal mites is the most desirable
> approach to reducing the damage caused by infestations of this pest.
> Biological control of tracheal mite infestation may be another
> attractive alternative. A DNA virus has been found in tracheal mites
> taken from honey bees. When this virus was introduced into
> mite-infected colonies, the infestation level decreased from 23.7% to
> 5.2% within 2 months.
>
>-------------------------More added-------------------------------
>
>** I must add to this that without looking at what exactly happened
> in the controls in this piece of work one must remember that the
> tracheal mites are infamous for spontaneous remission in numbers
> of mites making it very hard to derive reliable information or
> control stratagems. It may be that this virus is present and is
> naturally triggered by some environmental input that may or may
> not be controlled.
>-------------------------end of off the wall comments--------------
>
> NARC has a staff of 50 full-time equivalents, with 16 in the
> professional categories. The center controls 390 ha of land at two
> sites and rents about 35 ha of land a year for research. In addition,
> NARC manages the Fort Vermilion field site, which owns 187 ha of land
> and rents about 3 ha of land for research. Operation is on a growing
> season basis only.
>
> NARC manages a budget of $3.3 million. It has a 12-person advisory
> committee consisting of farmers and provincial and university leaders.
> The centre supplements its resources by receiving funds from outside
> agencies, including the provinces, producer groups, and agri-business.
>
> Research Publications
>
> Fairey, D.T. 1993. Pollination of Trifolium hybridum by Megachile
> rotundata. J. Appl. Seed Prod. 11:34-38.
>
> Fairey, D.T. 1993. Pollination and seed set in herbage species: a
> review of limiting factors. J. Appl. Seed Prod. 11:6-12.
>
> Fairey, D.T.; Lefkovitch, L.P. 1993. Bombus and other bee pollinators
> in Trifolium hybridum seed fields. J. Appl. Seed Prod. 11:87~-89.
>
> Fairey, D.T.; Lefkovitch, L.P. 1993. Arrangement of new and used
> nesting materials in leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata (F.),
> shelters to maximize cell production. J. Appl. Entomol. 115:62-65.
>
> Fairey, D.T.; Lefkovitch, L.P. 1994. Collection of leaf pieces by
> Megachile rotundata: proportion used in nesting. Bee Sci. 3(2):79-85.
>
> Fairey, N.A.; Lefkovitch, L.P. 1994. Herbage production as influenced
> by stand arrangement, nitrogen fertility and supplemental water. Can.
> J. Plant Sci. 74:115-120.
>
> Grant, G.A.; Nelson, D.L.; Olsen, P.E.; Rice, W.A. 1993. The ~ Elisa"
> detection of tracheal mites in whole honey bee samples. Am. Bee J.
> 133:652-655.
>
> Li, M.; Nelson, D.L.; Sporns, P. 1993. Determination of menthol in
> honey by gas chromatography. J. AOAC Int. 76(6):1289-1295.
>
> Liu, T.P.; Chu, L.T.Y.; Sporns, P. 1993. Formic acid residues in honey
> in relation to application rate and timing of formic acid for control
> of tracheal mites, Acarapis woodi (Rennie). Am. Bee J. 133:71-721.
>
> Liu, T.P.; McRory, D. 1994. The use of gamma radiation from Cobalt-60
> in a commercial facility in Ontario to disinfect honey bee equipment.
> 1. American foulbrood disease. Am. Bee J. 134:203-206.
>
> Liu, T.P.; Nasr, M.E. 1993. Preventive treatment of tracheal mites,
> Acarapis woodi (Rennie) with vegetable oil extender patties in the
> honeybee, Apis mellifera L. colonies. Am. Bee J. 134:873~-875.
>
> Mills, P.F. 1994. The agricultural potential of northwestern Canada
> and Alaska and the impact of climatic change. Arctic 47(2):115-123.
>
> Nelson, D.; Sporns, P.; Kristiansen, P.; Mills, P. 1993. Effectiveness
> and residue levels of 3 methods of menthol application to honey bee
> colonies for the control of tracheal mites. Apidologie 24:549-556.
>
> Szabo, T.I. 1993. Brood rearing in outdoor wintered honey bee
> colonies. Am. Bee J. 133(8):579-580.
>
> Szabo, T.I. 1993. Length of life of queens in honey bee colonies. Am.
> Bee J. 133(10):723-724.
>
> Szabo, T.I. 1993. Selective breeding of honey bees for resistanct to
> Varroa jacobsoni. Am. Bee J. 133:868; Can. Beekeep. 17(10):222.
>
>*Ripped off the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada web page, edited to
> save band width.
> ttul OLd Drone
>
>(c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document
>in any form, or to print for any use.
>
>(w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk.
>Not a invitation to use or an endorsement of any product
>legal or not legal.
>---
> ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee!
>
>
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