Harmlessness, biostimulating and antiviral action of probiotic “Apinormin” for honey bees

Abstract

Viral diseases of bees, in particular the sac brood, are an urgent problem of the industry, which brings great losses. The situation worsens in the case of parallel infestation of insects by the Varroa mite. Today, a complex approach is used for the treatment of viral diseases of bees, which is based on a connection of antiviral and antiparasitic measures in combination with drugs that have general strengthening and biostimulating effects. Nevertheless, the issue of developing ecologically safe and effective schemes for the prevention and treatment of bee diseases, in particular viral ones, is relevant today. In this work, the positive effect of using a specific probiotic for bees “Apinormin” for sac brood was investigated. Research in laboratory conditions was carried out on bees of the summer generation, selected into cages. The oral effect of the drug was determined by feeding bees with sugar syrup, the contact effect by spraying the body of insects with an aqueous solution in concentrations of 0.4; 0.8; 4.0; 8.0 %. Under natural conditions, the therapeutic effectiveness of a 4 % solution of “Apinormin” compared to the creation of an infertile period for the period of removal of queens for bee sac brood was determined. In laboratory conditions, the drug was proven to be harmless for bees when used orally in all tested concentrations. It has been established that “Apinormin” significantly increases the life expectancy of insects. Thus, feeding an 8 % probiotic solution slowed down the process of natural dying of bees from 7.24 to 27.75 % in the dynamics of observations. Under natural conditions, the drug did not show an antiviral effect. The effectiveness of the infertile period in the treatment of this viral disease is shown. The obtained positive effect of “Apinormin” on the life extension of bees and the presence of a number of biologically active compounds in its composition serve as a basis for the use of the drug to increase the strength and productivity of families, in case of stress, protein starvation, various technological violations of maintenance and the development of schemes for the prevention and treatment of bacterial diseases of bees. The expediency of using the infertile period for the period of removal of the queens in the following studies, both for self-administration and for working out the schemes of complex therapy of infectious diseases of bees together with the appropriate veterinary drugs, is substantiated.