Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Fri, 1 Nov 2019 11:25:30 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
From Randy Oliver:
Dr. Stephen Martin asked me to collect samples from throughout the U.S. of
treatment-free and treated operations, to that end. We did not observe a
pattern.
Eugene Ryabov of USDA is currently deeply investigating DWV strains.
------------------------------------------------------
Randy, I know in my area, the TF operations I have run into are not analagous to the situations described in the UK or in Gottland, where bees were co-existing happily with their mite loads, with no ill effects at all.
The TF apiaries I have seen and heard described use a host of methods to out-run their mite loads. They use the full suite of IPM methods, they split often to halve mite loads in colonies, and in return tolerate a high loss rate, poor productivity and low honey harvests. For clarity I call this "treating via management".
There is no reason to assume that if they truly stopped treating via management, their colonies could survive. And indeed, I have seen a few local TF survivor yards die out rapidly...sometimes in a season, sometimes into their second season. Alas their mite loads affect all the bee colonies within a shared flight range, but that ethical question is a separate issue.
My point is: their bees are not co-existing happily with their mite loads. So I would not expect any analysis of the mite viral loads to be any different than in treated apiaries.
Since Gottland has been long held up by TF adherents as proof survivor bee breeding results in Varroa-proof bees, bolstering their drive to have the rest of us stop treating and "polluting" the bee gene pool with "weak" bees, this idea that it is not the bees that are different as much as the mite viral load is critical...and suggests an effective strategy might be possible.
So...are there any apiaries in North America to sample where bees are thriving in the presence of Varroa loads? Viral samples there may be interesting.
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
|
|