Protect sweetness! Create a new way to defeat the enemy bees

Bees are important resource insects that not only produce nutritious bee products, but also pollinate crops and wild plants, playing a vital role in maintaining the balance of natural ecosystems. In the past decade or so, the decline in the number of bee colonies around the world has caused concern among beekeepers, scientists and the public.

A major pest in the beekeeping industry is the greater wax moth, whose larvae can eat the cells of bee colonies, affecting the health of the colonies and causing serious economic losses to the beekeeping industry.

Recently, the Bee Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangxi Beekeeping Institute, Shanxi Agricultural University, Guizhou Institute of Modern Agriculture and Enshi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has developed a new biological control technology for the Greater Wax Moth, an important pest of bees, filling the gap in efficient, safe and green control technology for the Greater Wax Moth.

Greater wax moth: a worldwide pest of bees

The greater wax moth is the main enemy of honey bees. It is also known as wax moth, nest moth, cotton moth, etc. In biological taxonomy, it belongs to the family Pyralidae and the genus Pyralidae. Its larvae damage the honeycombs of honey bees, which is extremely harmful to beekeeping production. In mild cases, it affects the production and quality of honey. In severe cases, the bee colony cannot resist and has to abandon the nest and migrate.

The wax moth is a worldwide pest of bees, especially the Chinese honey bee, Apis cerana. In recent years, international trade between bee populations has been increasing. After a long period of widespread dissemination, by 2016, the wax moth has been confirmed to be found in bee colonies in more than 60 countries in North America, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa. It can be seen that the wax moth has become a ubiquitous pest in the beekeeping industry around the world, and has caused serious economic losses to bee breeding.

The greater wax moth is very sensitive to temperature. It is rarely seen in high altitudes or high latitudes, but is extremely common in tropical and subtropical regions. It is distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan and other places in my country, and also often occurs in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Taiwan, Anhui, Hubei and other places.

Main control methods of wax moth

At present, beekeeping production mainly adopts physical, chemical and strengthening bee colony breeding and management methods to prevent and control the greater wax moth.

Raise a strong colony: The wax moth mainly harms weak colonies. The weaker the colony, the greater the harm. Strong colonies have extremely strong resistance to nest moths. Therefore, the most effective way to prevent and control nest moths is to raise a strong colony.

Cleaning the beehive: The wax moth lays eggs in the cracks at the bottom of the hive. The wax debris accumulated at the bottom of the hive provides conditions for the reproduction of the wax moth. Therefore, when managing the bee colony, you should regularly clean the wax debris in the beehive.

Kill the larvae: The greater wax moth overwinters as larvae. During the overwintering period, the larvae mostly hide in the honeycombs, cracks in the hive, and wax scraps at the bottom of the hive. Therefore, you can seize this favorable opportunity to completely kill the larvae.

In addition, based on the harmful habits of the wax moth, in beekeeping production, low temperature (-20℃) can be used to treat the honeycombs that have been invaded by the wax moth larvae for more than 24 hours. This can kill the wax moth at all developmental stages and achieve a good prevention and control effect.

Green and efficient prevention technology

Compared with physical and chemical methods, biological means are a safer and more effective way to control the wax moth. Recently, researchers have developed a new biological control technology that combines baits that are highly attractive to wax moth larvae with a new strain of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) with high insecticidal activity, and introduces a protective device to prevent bees from accidentally contacting the bait containing the new strain, thus constructing a breakthrough new green control strategy.

This two-pronged approach not only increases the chances of pests coming into contact with Bt, thus improving its insecticidal efficacy, but also avoids the possibility of bees coming into contact with Bt.

In addition, the results of the bee colony control test showed that the control efficiency of the trapping technology against the greater wax moth exceeded 93%. This research provides technical support for the green and efficient management of the greater wax moth, and is of great significance to protecting the health of Chinese honey bees.

Author: Song Yajuan

Scientific review: Dai Pingli (Institute of Bee Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)