Control of honeybee ectoparasitic mite, Tropilaelaps clareae by using formic acid, fluvalinate injection, and apistan strips in Apis mellifera L. colonies

Abstract

Honeybees carry huge economic importance as they produce a wide variety of important foodstuffs that as honey, Royal jelly, Pollens, and medicinal products like beeswax, Bee venom, and Propolis. The honeybees Apis mellifera ectoparasitic mite Tropilaelaps clareae is observed which is the main preventive issue in beekeeping, especially for A. mellifera in Pakistan. T. clareae is a minor mite, that cannot easily see and attack as well as adults and the brood causing 30-70% colony loss of A. mellifera. This study was conducted to analyze the efficacy of the acaricides formic acid, Apistan strips, and fluvalinate injections for controlling T, clareae infestation in A. mellifera colonies. Our result displayed that after treatment with formic acid the number of fall dead mites in between 13-24 in the first week, the number of fall mites in ranged between 3-13 in the second week, and between 0-3 in the third week. The range of dead fallen mites recorded after treatment with Apistan strips was between 4.10 in the first week, 4-9 in the second week, and between 3-7 in the third week. The range for fluvalinate injection treatment was between 4-20 in the first week, 2-10 in the second week, and 2-6 in the third week with mean values of 10.62, 5.37. and 3.5, respectively. The efficacy of formic acid was 95.258%, whereas 93.413% and 91.875% efficacy were recorded from fluvalinate injection and Apistan strips, respectively. Formic acid was highly effective to control mites in honeybee colonies.