There is some anecdotal evidence in Australia that banana fruit placed in hives is an effective control for chalkbrood. Our research has failed to find any inhibitory action of banana extract when it is incorporated into an in vitro culture system. Any beneficial effect that banana fruit placed within the hive might have in controlling or reducing the severity of chalkbrood would most probably arise from volatiles evolved by the fruit. It is not inconceivable that the fruit might evolve one or more volatile compounds that are inhibitory to the spore germination or mycelial growth of the causal fungus A. apis. Such fungistatic or fungitoxic/fungicidal volatiles might be the normal products of fruit metabolism or the products of microbial degradation of the fruit as it senesces. The banana fruit contains at least 200 individual volatile components (Palmer, 1971). Many more volatile compounds, including fermentation products, could arise from microbial action (Sureh and Ethiraj, 1991). Fermentation products (ethanol and acetaldehyde) have been shown to inhibit mould growth on oranges (Yuen et al., 1995). The control of chalkbrood disease with natural products A report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation by Dr Craig Davis and Wendy Ward December 2003 RIRDC Publication No 03/107 RIRDC Project No DAQ-269A https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/03-107.pdf *********************************************** 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 Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm