The Rational Use of Oxalic Acid Against to “Varroa Destructor”; Regional Scale Pilot Scheme

Abstract

Varroa destructor mite poses a serious problem for the future of bee populations around the world. Today, there are many commercial drugs with the same and different active ingredients on the market to chemically control over of Varroa destructor. More frequent chemical applications for against Varroa destructor increases stress resilience, colony losses, loss of yield and residue problems in bee products. The scope of this project is aimed to determine the appropriate control method of Varroa by investigating the efficiency values of the evaporation and dropping methods of Oxalic acid. Experimental area were chosen three different apiaries. 28 colonies were determined in each apiary and equalization studies (area with brood, number of bees with bees, age of queen bees, honey, pollen, etc.) were carried out in these colonies. The determined colonies were randomly divided into 4 groups as 7 colonies. The first group is the control group, the second group is applying 2 g of oxalic acid by vaporizing, the third group is 4% oxalic acid 5 ml of sugar syrup (1:1) is dropped between the frames, and in the fourth group, the fight against a drug that is determined by the beekeeper in the market without interfering with the beekeeper. In order to evaluate the data, samples were taken for four periods, before and after spraying in spring and autumn. While the varroa measurements in the group of syrup, vapor and spraying were found to be statistically less than the control group, the syrup, vapor and spraying groups were statistically similar in terms of varroa measurements. Oxalic acid syrup application showed higher efficiency in spring and autumn than vapor application. There is no statistically difference between both two-application method reveals that it can be used as an effective and safe alternative to chemical control against varroa.