1994/01/01 by Mark Goodwin, R Mark Goodwin, Joanne H Perry +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Insect and Pesticide Research #Plant and animal studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00218839.1994.11100873
crossref issued 1994/01/01 · crossref published 1994/01/01 · crossref published-print 1994/01/01 · openalex publication_date 1994/01/01 · crossref published-online 2015/03/24 · crossref created 2016/06/29 · crossref deposited 2019/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
SUMMARYTwenty-five pairs of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies were established with the hives in each pair touching and the entrances facing the same direction. One colony in each pair had a light American foulbrood (AFB) infection (<50 larvae with clinical symptoms) while the other (control) was uninfected. The pairs remained together for 5–388 days (average 103 days). Any heavily infected colonies (< 50 larvae with clinical symptoms) were removed from the trial. Only 2 of the control colonies developed AFB. In a separate trial with two pairs of colonies established in the same way, an average of 5.72% of marked bees were in the wrong hive after two days. Trials where 20 uninfected nucleus colonies were fed 50 000, 500 000 or 5 million Bacillus larvae spores in sugar syrup indicated that the control colonies were not particularly resistant to AFB; four of five colonies fed 5 million spores developed AFB. The results suggest that drifting of honey bees is not a particularly important cause of the spread of AFB.