Russian Honey Bee Earning Its Stripes - fortifying hives against parasitic tracheal and Varroa mites - Statistical Data Included

Agricultural Research, Oct, 2001 by Jan Suszkiw

Like Bigalk in Iowa, Tubbs had an opportunity to witness the Russian bees' durability thanks to a harsh winter. Of his 1,500 domestic colonies, 1,200 to 1,400 were lost, whereas of his 2,000 Russian-bred colonies, only 2 didn't survive.

After a harsh winter, it looks to be a honey of a year for a sturdy breed of Russian bee that's helping U.S. apiarists fortify their hives against parasitic tracheal and Varroa mites.

"Last winter was one of the toughest we've had in the Midwest, and also in the South," notes Manley H. Bigalk, an apiarist in Cresco, Iowa. For winter-weakened hives, the mites' presence can be a costly, one-two punch. "Even with all the death-losses in domestic bees this past winter, this Russian was superb," says Bigalk, of Golden Ridge Honey Farms.

He is one of three commercial apiarists who've been evaluating the Russian bees since 1999 in cooperation with Agricultural Research Service scientists at the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The program began in 1996, after ARS supervisory geneticist Thomas E. Rinderer traveled to a rugged stretch of land on Russia's Pacific coast called the Primorsky Territory.

Observing how well local honey bee hives fared despite parasitic mites and prolonged winters, Rinderer requested--and in July 1997 received--permission to import into the United States 100 queen bees from the region. After quarantined monitoring on Grande Terre Island, Louisiana, the Russian bees were moved to apiaries at ARS' Baton Rouge lab, where scientists subjected the Russian queens and their offspring to rigorous cycles of breeding, selection, and testing for mite resistance and other desired traits.

In 1999 those efforts culminated in a cooperative research and development agreement with Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

Under the agreement, third-generation apiarist Steven S. Bernard is authorized to raise and sell pure-Russian breeder queen bees on a first-come, first-served basis. The breeder queens cost $500 each. From each of these, beekeepers breed thousands of production queens, which are placed in hives for pollination and honeymaking. Strict mating control of production queens is not done, so they sell for about $10 to $15 each.

Although this year's domestic orders for Russian queens are about the same as last year's, Bernard reports high numbers of sales to European apiarists.

Bernard decided to breed the Russian queens commercially after Rinderer approached him with the idea as a way to transfer the benefits of the ARS lab's research to U.S. apiarists.

"I was reluctant at first because we had just gotten into producing and bottling honey," says Bernard. He had been breeding queens until a tracheal mite infestation in the late 1980s decimated his breeder stock.

"When I realized I could still raise the breeder stock and make a living at it, the idea just appealed to me," he says.

Although tracheal mites remain a problem, particularly in northeastern states, Varroa mites pose a broader threat to America's honey bees, whose pollination is worth $14.6 billion to U.S. agriculture. About 1 millimeter long, the reddish Varroa mites can kill or weaken adult and larval bees by sucking their blood or exposing them to diseases.

Fluvalinate is one of two registered chemicals for controlling Varroa mites, whose attacks can otherwise destroy an entire hive within weeks or months. Cost, handling concerns, and the mite's ability to develop pesticide resistance have driven the search for alternatives.

The best long-term solution for both domestic and feral honey bees, experts say, is to fortify them with mite-resistance traits--whether from Russian or other bee stock.

"These mites are real good at building resistance, so we're looking at genetic approaches as a long-term solution," says Richard Adee, president of the American Honey Producers Association. "We're looking to cut down on the use of chemicals and chop away at the costs of using them."

Backing that optimism is data from ARS' Baton Rouge lab. Studies there since 1997 show that mite reproduction levels are two to three times higher in domestic colonies than in Russian colonies.

With lower mite counts comes less reliance on chemicals, notes Hubert D. Tubbs, an ARS cooperator who manages 3,500 honey bee colonies at Tubbs Apiaries in Webb, Mississippi. "My test yards are purebred Russian, and we haven't treated those colonies in 2 years," he reports.

Other than the bees' diligent mite-grooming behaviors, "we don't know all of the mechanisms of resistance yet," says Rinderer. "In general, they differ from domestic bees in several small ways acting in concert."

Since 1999, Bigalk, Bernard, and Tubbs have evaluated the bees' mettle against the mites, as well as their temperament, pollination habits, and honey production.

Like Bigalk in Iowa, Tubbs had an opportunity to witness the Russian bees' durability thanks to a harsh winter. Of his 1,500 domestic colonies, 1,200 to 1,400 were lost, whereas of his 2,000 Russian-bred colonies, only 2 didn't survive.