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1 ISSN 2708-115X Good beekeeping practices Practical manual on how to identify and control the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) Technologies and practices for small agricultural producers Technologies and practices for small agricultural producers 1 Good beekeeping practices Practical manual on how to identify and control the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2020 i Required citation: FAO. 2020. Good beekeeping practices: Practical manual on how to identify and control the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera). TECA – Technologies and practices for small agricultural producers, 1. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9182en The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISSN 2708-1168 (Online) ISSN 2708-115X (Print) ISBN 978-92-5-132664-0 © FAO, 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode). Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: “This translation was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original [Language] edition shall be the authoritative edition.” Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules and any arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Third-party materials. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via: www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: [email protected]. ii Contents Preparation of this document vii Acknowledgments viii Acronyms ix 1. GOOD BEEKEEPING PRACTICES AND BIOSECURITY MEASURES IN BEEKEEPING 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Good beekeeping practices 2 1.3 Biosecurity measures in beekeeping 3 2. MAIN HONEYBEE DISEASES 2.1 Introduction 5 2.2 Classification of honeybee diseases 6 3. VARROOSIS 3.1 Introduction 9 3.2 Morphology of the varroa mite 10 3.3 Transmission 11 3.4 Diagnosis 11 3.5 Monitoring 13 3.6 Control 15 4. TROPILAELAPSOSIS 4.1 Introduction 19 4.2 Symptoms 19 4.3 Transmission 20 4.4 Diagnosis 20 4.5 Prevention and control 21 5. SMALL HIVE BEETLE 5.1 Introduction 23 5.2 Morphology of the small hive beetle 24 5.3 Symptoms 25 5.4 Transmission 26 5.5 Diagnosis 26 5.6 Prevention and control 27 iii 6. NOSEMOSIS 6.1 Introduction 29 6.2 Symptoms 29 6.3 Transmission 31 6.4 Diagnosis 31 6.5 Prevention and control 32 7. AMOEBIASIS 7.1 Introduction 35 7.2 Symptoms 35 7.3 Transmission 36 7.4 Diagnosis 36 7.5 Prevention and control 36 8. AMERICAN FOULBROOD 8.1 Introduction 39 8.2 Symptoms 39 8.3 Transmission 40 8.4 Diagnosis 40 8.5 Prevention and control 41 9. EUROPEAN FOULBROOD 9.1 Introduction 45 9.2 Symptoms 46 9.3 Transmission 47 9.4 Diagnosis 47 9.5 Prevention 47 9.6 Control 47 9.7 Disinfection procedures 49 10. CHALKBROOD 10.1 Introduction 51 10.2 Symptoms 51 10.3 Transmission 52 10.4 Diagnosis 52 10.5 Control 53 iv 11. STONEBROOD (ASPERGILLOSIS) 11.1 Introduction 55 11.2 Symptoms 55 11.3 Transmission 56 11.4 Diagnosis 56 11.5 Prevention 56 11.6 Control 56 11.7 Impact of stonebrood on human health 57 12. VIRUSES 12.1 Introduction 59 12.2 Symptoms of the main viral diseases of the honeybees 60 12.3 Transmission 61 12.4 Diagnosis 61 12.5 Prevention and control 61 ANNEX 1 63 Good beekeeping practices ANNEX 2 67 Biosecurity measures in beekeeping concerning the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) LIST OF OTHER BEEKEEPING TECHNOLOGIES AND PRACTICES AVAILABLE ON THE TECA PLATFORM 70 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Main diseases of honeybees classified by nature of pathogen 6 Table 2. Main brood diseases 7 Table 3. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of varroosis 17 Table 4. General recommendations on acaricide use 17 Table 5. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of tropilaelapsosis 21 Table 6. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of small hive beetle 27 Table 7. Biosecurity measures to be adopted in the honey house to limit damage caused by the small hive beetle 27 Table 8. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of nosemosis 33 Table 9. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of amoebiasis 37 v Table 10. Good beekeeping practices and biosecurity measures in beekeeping for prevention and control of American foulbrood 43 Table 11. Main differences between European foulbrood and American foulbrood 47 Table 12. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of European foulbrood 48 Table 13. Good beekeeping practices for the prevention and control of chalkbrood disease 53 Table 13. Good beekeeping practices for prevention and control of stonebrood disease 57 TABLES ANNEX 1 Table A1.1 General apiary management 63 Table A1.2 Use of veterinary medicines 64 Table A1.3 Disease management 65 Table A1.4 Hygiene in cases of infectious diseases Table A1.5 Bee feeding and watering Table A1.6 Record-keeping 66 Table A1.7 Training on good beekeeping practices TABLES ANNEX 2 Table A2.1 Varroosis 67 Table A2.2 American foulbrood 68 Table A2.3 European foulbrood 68 Table A2.4 Nosemosis 69 Table A2.5 Aethinosis (small hive beetle) 69 vi Preparation of this document This manual serves as a practical tool for beekeepers, veterinarians and beekeeping adviso- ry services, to identify and control main honeybee diseases in the apiary. It follows from the manual “Main beekeeping diseases: Good beekeeping practices” published in 2018. The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana (IZSLT) “M. Aleandri” developed this document in collaboration with the Research and Extension Unit of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations (APIMONDIA), and FAO’s Animal Health Service. Definitions and good beekeeping practices reported in this manual, were adopted from the validation activities undertaken in collaboration with the BPRACTICES project. This manual is part of the Technologies and practices for small agricultural producers (TECA) series of the FAO’s Research and Extension Unit (AGDR). Additional details about the TECA platform can be found here: http://www.fao.org/teca. vii Acknowledgments This practical manual was conceptualized and developed by Giovanni Formato and Marco Pietropaoli, Apiculture, Honeybee Productions and Diseases Laboratory of Istituto Zooprofilat- tico del Lazio e della Toscana (IZSLT) “M. Aleandri”, in collaboration with Charlotte Lietaer, Re- search and Extension Unit of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). We would like to thank all the people that directly and indirectly contributed to the pro- duction of this manual, in particular, Jeff Pettis, President of International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations (APIMONDIA) for peer-reviewing, Julian Plummer for editing and Sonia Ricardo Dias, Research and Extension Unit of FAO for proof reading and support for com- munication and visual identity. Claudia Ciarlantini, Daniela Pisani and Ginevra Virgili, Information Management team of FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division carried out the design and layout. APIMONDIA and FAO’s Animal Health Service provided technical support throughout the preparation process. viii Acronyms and abbreviations ABPV Acute bee paralysis virus ABV Arkansas
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