Excerpts from:

"Comments on: Varroa destructor: research avenues towards sustainable control"
Robert G Danka, Thomas E Rinderer, Marla Spivak and John Kefuss
Journal of Apicultural Research 52(2): 69-71 (2013) © IBRA 2013

> A recent review in the Journal of Apicultural Research offers thoughts on research needed to achieve sustainable control of Varroa destructor (Dietemann et al., 2012). Discussion about such research is laudable because of the preeminent threat of the mite to honey bee health. However, while noting that identifying and breeding honey bee strains resistant to V. destructor would be ideal, the authors state that we are "not close to any such sustainable solutions". We disagree with this negative characterization of the status of honey bees with genetically based mite resistance.

> Dietemann et al. (2012) offer two criticisms specifically about bees with hygiene-based varroa resistance. The first is a lack of general acceptance in the beekeeping community. However, there is documented acceptance of resistant bees in the USA. A 2005 survey showed that Russian honey bees were being used by 24% of US beekeepers (Kim et al., 2010). Other data collected in conjunction with this survey showed Minnesota Hygienic and VSH bees were being used at similar frequencies (J Westra, Louisiana State University, USA; pers. comm.). We expect that acceptance has increased after that survey.

> A second criticism is that bees exhibiting hygiene do not represent a sustainable solution to varroa. Potential problems with sustainability over time may be thought to be of two sorts: maintenance of mite resistance itself, and decreasing genetic diversity. Regarding varroa resistance itself, there are beekeepers who have kept resistant bees (VSH and Russian) without the use of acaricides for up to a decade. And there are many instances of resistant bees being the centrepiece of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach that has employed fewer treatments and "softer" chemicals.

> Honey bee strains that are resistant to varroa are a valuable resource that beekeepers are using successfully. Although these bees have not completely solved the problem, we are in fact moving toward the ideal of sustainable varroa control described by Dietemann et al. (2012). Further research to determine the best IPM procedures to support the full expression of resistant phenotypes would move us more quickly toward ending reliance on acaricides.

Posted by Peter Loring Borst for review purposes only

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