The Importance of Apiculture

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1 The Importance of Apiculture Albert J. Robertson Meadow Ridge Enterprises

2 Outline Definition of apiculture Importance of honey bees and apiculture practices Honey bee health issues The Saskatraz project

3 Apiculture Apiculture is the management and study of domesticated honey bees (Apis Mellifera). A critically important profession for secure and sustain the world s food supply.

4 Importance of Honey bees and Apicultural Practices Responsible for 1/3 of the world s food supply by pollination of more than species of flowering plants (Greenleaf and Kremer, 2006, PNAS, 103: 13890) Worldwide economic value to food production of billion USD annually with little or no carbon footprint (Dr. Phippes, Apitrack website) Indicators of the health of their surrounding ecosystem. Essential for the preservation and sustainability of wild species of flowering plants. Used for prospecting and detecting land mines.

5 Involved with collection of valuable hive products. Honey Apicultural Practices most green sweetener; more evidence of health benefits accumulating (Dr. Ron Fessenden, usa.com) diabetes, weight loss, cognitive function, wound healing, chemotherapy induced neutropenia, cough suppression, antioxidant source. Wax Long chain aliphatic alcohol ( C) Cloned gene involved in bee wax synthesis from SAT-28. Prapanan Teerawanichpan, Albert J. Robertson, Xiao Qui, 2010, Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 40; Pollen, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom (apitherapy apitherapy)

6 In the media since 2007, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Increased and continued decline in honey bee populations throughout the world is of serious concern. Possible Causes: Honey Bee Health Issues Parasitic mites (Varroa Destructor) Apis cerana Apismellifera Pathogens (viruses and microsporidia) associated with the mites Synthetic chemical miticidetreatments Residues, mite resistance, decreased natural immunity and suppression of the development of natural resistance to mites Lack of genetic diversity in the managed bee population. Compounded by poor apicultural practices and agricultural pesticide uses (nicotinoids)

7 Varroa Mites in Pupae

8 The Importance of Apiculture, ABIC 2010 Scanning Electron Micrographs of Varroa Mite

9 The Saskatraz Project SBA Honey Bee Breeding Program Established in 2004 in collaboration with Saskatchewan and Manitoba queen breeders. Involved assembling a large diverse gene pool at an isolated apiary called Saskatraz. Aimed at using natural selection (no synthetic chemical miticides) to select for honey bee genotypes with tolerance to parasitic mites.

10 The Saskatraz Project Objective: To develop productive, gentle honeybees with tolerance to mites and brood diseases By: Albert J. Robertson SBA Honeybee Breeding Program Summer

12 Saskatraz Breeding Program Logistics A Meadow Ridge (MR) Closed Breeding Population ( ) G Saskatraz satellite yards at MR (reselected elite breeding lines for closed population mating and stock maintenance) certified RC B Five Isolated Russian Apiaries Blue 40, Green, Purple 30 Yellow ( ) at MR RC GD GD Saskatraz Natural Selection 1 and Evaluation ( ) certified F Commercial Queen Breeders and Beekeepers ( ) (4200 queen cells, 67 breeder queens distributed between ) C Russian/German hybrids (ii) UM/German hybrids (ii) NWC crosses (open mated and ii) (2006) Constructed at MR GD D Canadian hygienic GD Lines (TSQ) Crossed with Russian and UM (2005) Constructed at MR E Colonies selected (127) by SK beekeepers (34), MR (83) Over 6 years (representing selections from > 50,000 colonies) ( ) Letters A to G represent isolated apiaries and the year of establishment at Meadow Ridge. Solid arrows indicate genetically diverse gene (GD) flow into Saskatraz, dashed arrows gene flow out of Saskatraz. (ii) denotes instrumental insemination. RC denotes recurrent selection. 1 Denotes no chemical miticides.

13 Saskatraz natural selection yard site fall 2006 fenced. Selection for this Saskatraz yard site is a death sentence.

14 Primary Selection Criteria: 1. Honey Production 2. Wintering Ability 3. Mite Resistance and Suppression 4. Resistance to Brood Diseases (chalk brood, foul brood and virus susceptibility) Breeding methods used to select and enrich for important traits (natural selection, back crossing, recurrent selection and progeny analyses).

15 Saskatraz Honey Production in Honey, lbs Mean Colony ID Total Varroa Drop Saskatraz Total Varroa Drop (Jul25- Nov ) Mean Colony ID

16 200 Saskatraz Honey Production as a % of Provincial and Meadow Ridge Hive Production ( ) % Honey Production % of Prov. % of MR Mean Year

17 40000 Cumulative Varroa Mite Drop 2006 SAT SAT 14 SAT 30 Cumulative Varroa Count SAT 04 SAT 17 SAT 31 SAT 28 SAT 34 SAT 04 SAT 14 SAT 17 SAT 23 SAT 28 SAT 30 SAT 31 SAT 34 SAT (May 23) 50(July 12) 100(Sept. 2) 150(Oct. 20) 200 Days

18 September 2006 These bees look good, but they are dying.

19 Colony (2004) SAT 01 SAT 24 Virus May 2005 DWV IAPV KBV June 2005 The Importance of Apiculture, ABIC 2010 Varroa (ND ) Were Sampled From All SaskatrazColonies To Monitor Virus Infection Status of the Varroa Population and Host Colony. Pandemic SAT 28 SAT 30 SAT 34 Saskatraz Apiary July 2005 Aug Sept Oct May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 Aug Sept Oct DWV IAPV Dead Dead Dead KBV DWV IAPV KBV DWV IAPV KBV DWV IAPV KBV %T %V Dead

20 Progeny Analyses of Selected Breeders and Non-Selected Colonies Grooming Assays Hygienic Behaviour (VSH phenotypes) Morphometric Analyses Molecular Marker Analyses Selecting for variability in virus susceptibility

50 40 30 The Importance of Apiculture, ABIC 2010 Grooming Assay SAT -84 SAT -65 40 35 30 25 20 Cumulative Varroa Drop Cumulative Varroa Drop 20 10 0 84h 84c 84a 84f 15 10 5 0 Nov. 5 Nov.

21 The Importance of Apiculture, ABIC 2010 Grooming Assay SAT -84 SAT Cumulative Varroa Drop Cumulative Varroa Drop h 84c 84a 84f Nov. 5 Nov. 6 Nov. 7 Nov. 8 Nov. 10 Nov. 11 Nov. 14 Nov. 17 Nov. 22 Nov. 26 Date 84f 84a 84c 84h 65b 65d 65a 65c Nov. 22 Nov. 26 Nov. 5 Nov. 6 Nov. 7 Nov. 8 Nov. 10 Nov. 11 Nov. 14 Nov. 17 Date 65c 65a 65d 65b

22 14 Winter Varroa Reproduction in Saskatraz Breeding Lines 12 % Varroa Mit tes on Adult Bees Nov Apr f 84c 84h 84a 84m 23b 23d 23c 23a 23m 34d 34g 34h 34i 34m Colony ID -m denotes mean

23 Hygienic Behaviour Analyses Varroa Mite

24 Russian German (4) Unknown New Zealand Canadian A three dimensional plot showing the grouping of 5 different honeybee populations using 20 informative microsatellite markers.

25 Selecting for Variability in Virus Susceptibility of Saskatraz Breeding Lines

26 100 % of Brood Cells Infested with Varroa at Saskatraz (Sept. 16, 2008) % of Brood Cells Infested SAT 63 SAT 65 SAT 84 SAT 85 SAT 86 SAT 87 SAT 88 SAT 90 SAT 91 SAT 93 SAT 94 SAT 96 Colony ID Percent of brood cells infested with varroa at Saskatraz on Sept. 16, (Red bars indicate colonies showing virus infections) Values plotted are mean, error bars are SE.

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27 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. The Importance of Apiculture, ABIC 2010 Screening of Pre-Emergent Pupae From Varroa Tolerant and Sensitive Saskatraz Breeding Lines for IAPV using RT-PCR

28 Summary Natural Selection coupled with effective breeding procedures show promise in improving the productivity, health and sustainability of the domesticated honey bee. Positiveselection selection pressure without the use of synthetic chemical miticides, should allow natural genetic processes to improve tolerance to mites and other pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi). Apiculture practices should focus more on genetics, breeding and biotechnologyto helpobtain sustainability of honey bee populations.

29 Acknowledgements Saskatchewan Agriculture (ADF), Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan (MB, AB, BC and Yukon), Meadow Ridge Ent. Ltd., SBA and CBRF GenServe Labs (Dr. G. Brown, Bruce Mann, Dr. Yves Plante, Dale Kelly, and Dr. Steven Creighton, SRC) VIDO (Dr. Philip Griebel and Wayne Connor) University of Saskatchewan Food and Bioproducts (Dr. Xiao Qiu and San Jei) Mohommad Mostejeran (Research associate 2008-present) Dr. Filipe Brizuela (Research associate summer ) Saskatchewan Bee Keeper Colony Donators & Contributors Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim (Research associate, summer 2007) John Pedersen breeder stock multiplication and selection (2006) Eric Pedersen, Lyse Boisvert, Matthew Polinsky and Vika Cummins summer student ( ) Family members & Meadow Ridge staff: Tom, Jenny, and Cecilia Robertson, Neil Morrison, Rob Peace. Collaborators: John Gruszka (P.A.Sask) Dr. Solignac (Paris, France), Dr. Ralph Buchler (Germany), Dr. Rob Currie (U of M), and Manitoba Queen Breeders Association, Dr. S. Pernal (ACC, AB), Drs. T. Rinderer, & R. Danka (Baton Rouge, LA), S. Cobey (Davis, CA), BC Queen Breeders Association (T&E Huxter), Geoff Wilson (P.A. Sask).

Bee Research at AARD Lethbridge. Shelley Hoover, Pest Surveillance Branch, Lethbridge

Bee Research at AARD Lethbridge Shelley Hoover, Pest Surveillance Branch, Lethbridge Pest Surveillance Branch AARD Bee Team Lethbridge Shelley Hoover Apiculture Research Scientist Lynae Vandervalk Apiculture