By Marcia Wood
August 5, 1999
Hardy
Russian honey bees that resist attack by devastating varroa mites
will begin showing up in American beehives within a year, thanks
to scientists in Louisiana with the Agricultural Research Service,
USDA's chief research wing. The Russian bees' genetic resistance
will provide beekeepers with a tool--in addition to chemical
pesticides--to control the mites.Varroa mites--eight-legged parasites--are among the worst enemies of honey bees worldwide. In the U.S., the mites have attacked bees in almost every state. Though only about one- sixteenth-inch in size, they can destroy a hive of tens of thousands of bees in as little as 6 months. The mites have also eliminated most of North America's wild honey bees.
Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement signed this week by ARS and Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., Breaux Bridge, La., bee breeder Steven J. Bernard is authorized to raise hundreds of Russian honey bee queens this fall and winter. The bees will be available for sale to U.S. beekeepers early next year. The beekeepers will use the queens to produce more queens for populating hives with mite-resistant offspring. These offspring will be fathered by male bees, known as drones, from the American hives.
Compared to domestic honey bees, the Russian bees are more than twice as resistant to attack by varroa mites, according to tests by geneticist Thomas E. Rinderer and colleagues at ARS' Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, La.
The domestic honey bee and the Russian honey bee are the same species, Apis mellifera. But the Russian bees have had to develop resistance to survive in their homeland, the mite- infested Primorsky region of far eastern Russia. Rinderer studied the bees there, then imported them under a federal permit.
Besides producing honey, honey bees pollinate dozens of crops, from apples to zucchini, worth $8 to $10 billion. An article in the August issue of the agency's monthly magazine, Agricultural Research, tells more. View it here.
Availability of Russian Honey Bees
By Marcia Wood
August 1999
Russian honey bees now being tested
at the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research
Unit in Baton Rouge, La., and reared at Bernard's Apiaries, Inc.,
in Breaux Bridge, La., are generally gentle and produce honey
at about the same level as commonly used commercial stocks, according
to Thomas E. Rinderer of the research unit.Through a newly signed Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., in Breaux Bridge, La., is now taking orders for breeder queens.
The breeder queens will be produced this fall and winter for shipment to customers early in the year 2000.
Breeder queens can be ordered from Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., 1025 Bernard St., Henderson Station, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517-7875, phone and fax (318) 228-7535, e-mail sbernhoney@aol.com.
According to Bernard's, orders must be received by September 30, 1999, to ensure delivery. Orders received after September 30, 1999 will be accepted on a first-come basis, based on queen availability. The order of acceptance will be based on fax or e-mail time and date, or postmark date.
"Our experience with hybrids of Russian and domestic stocks during the past year has been favorable," Rinderer noted.
"However, depending upon the drones that a beekeeper uses to mate with the Russian queens," he said, "the characteristics of the hybrid offspring may be highly varied. That's why were asking everyone who buys a Russian queen to let us know about the performance of their bees. We can use that information in our ongoing program to improve the performance of the Russian stock."
"The Russian bees that we are working with are very good," Rinderer said, "but we think we can make them even better. We're hoping that beekeepers who end up with superior colonies of Russian bees will be willing to work with us, so that we can bring these top-performing bees into our breeding and selection program."
The lineage of Russian queens provided by Rinderer's laboratory to Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., this year will differ from that provided next year, and thereafter. "That will help prevent inbreeding," Rinderer said.
In addition, Rinderer and colleagues anticipate making additional expeditions to Russia to collect more Russian bees.
Scientific contact: Thomas E. Rinderer, ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit, Baton Rouge, La., phone (225) 767-9280, fax (225) 766-9212, trinderer@asrr.arsusda.gov.