EFFICACY OF NEW AND RE-USED ONCE APISTAN STRIPS IN BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO

摘要

The trial was carried out during October and November, 2004 in an apiary of Apis mellifera L. located at the San Pedro zone, Baja California Sur, with Jumbo hives of brood chamber and one half-supper, with good strength. Apistan strips preserved after their use for 6 weeks in the precedent year (12 hives), and new strips bought at NM$ 25.00 e/o (6 hives) were applied in a dosage of two per hive, six weeks long. Three hives remained untreated. The reduction of the INFESTATION RATE (I.R.) in adult bees was 97.57% with re-used strips and 98.31% with the new ones, without statistical difference. In the untreated colonies, the I.R. increased 9.49%. The re-use may permit the economic sustainability of this treatment and not accelerate the chemo-resistance development since the amount of surviving mites is the same in both variants. After 6 years of use, Apistan showed a high efficacy against Varroa mites in these hives and it is kept as an option in the arsenal of control means.