Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella

The bee wax moth is a problematic pest that has been a problem to Kenyan bee farmers for some time now. This study has tried to answer if the observed factors affected the infestation rate of the pest. The bee wax moth is nocturnal and can during the late hours freely enter the hive even if the c...

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Autor principal: Bergqvist, Sanna
Formato: M2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Ecology 2019
Materias:
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author Bergqvist, Sanna
author_browse Bergqvist, Sanna
author_facet Bergqvist, Sanna
author_sort Bergqvist, Sanna
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description The bee wax moth is a problematic pest that has been a problem to Kenyan bee farmers for some time now. This study has tried to answer if the observed factors affected the infestation rate of the pest. The bee wax moth is nocturnal and can during the late hours freely enter the hive even if the colony is strong, however, it is only a problem in weak colonies that cannot fend them off. The moth is often not the first disturbance, stress from another pest, scarcity of food, heat etc. can leave the hive open too an attack. There are many options for control of the bee wax moth e.g. heat or cold treatment of the stored combs, breeding programs for more effective bees, biological control and insecticides. These control methods are sometimes difficult to implement due to different prerequisites in different countries, in Kenya for example they do not profit from the cold winter that could kill the bee wax moth, but instead benefit from harvesting honey all year round. This also means that they do not have the same need for storage of their frames and boxes and some methods of control are therefore unsuitable. A preferable solution would be to be able to lessen the infestation rate from the start to make up for the lack of available control methods. Out of the five different factors hypothesized to have an effect on infestation rate, hive type, number of hives in one location, type of suspension, placed in shadow or sun exposed and clearing of the ground, none proved to be significant. However, both hive type and type of suspension showed that there is the inclination of a trend. The subject could use further study since there are many other factors that could affect the infestation rate that are not taken into consideration in this project.
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spelling RepoSLU150802020-06-04T12:50:08Z Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella Vaxmott i Embu kommun, Kenya, inkräktaren i bikuporna : en studie av Galleria mellonella och Achroia grisella Bergqvist, Sanna bee wax moth African bees prevention control The bee wax moth is a problematic pest that has been a problem to Kenyan bee farmers for some time now. This study has tried to answer if the observed factors affected the infestation rate of the pest. The bee wax moth is nocturnal and can during the late hours freely enter the hive even if the colony is strong, however, it is only a problem in weak colonies that cannot fend them off. The moth is often not the first disturbance, stress from another pest, scarcity of food, heat etc. can leave the hive open too an attack. There are many options for control of the bee wax moth e.g. heat or cold treatment of the stored combs, breeding programs for more effective bees, biological control and insecticides. These control methods are sometimes difficult to implement due to different prerequisites in different countries, in Kenya for example they do not profit from the cold winter that could kill the bee wax moth, but instead benefit from harvesting honey all year round. This also means that they do not have the same need for storage of their frames and boxes and some methods of control are therefore unsuitable. A preferable solution would be to be able to lessen the infestation rate from the start to make up for the lack of available control methods. Out of the five different factors hypothesized to have an effect on infestation rate, hive type, number of hives in one location, type of suspension, placed in shadow or sun exposed and clearing of the ground, none proved to be significant. However, both hive type and type of suspension showed that there is the inclination of a trend. The subject could use further study since there are many other factors that could affect the infestation rate that are not taken into consideration in this project. SLU/Dept. of Ecology 2019 M2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15080/
spellingShingle bee wax moth
African bees
prevention
control
Bergqvist, Sanna
Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title_full Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title_fullStr Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title_full_unstemmed Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title_short Bee wax moth in Embu county, Kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella
title_sort bee wax moth in embu county, kenya, the intruder in the hives : a study of galleria mellonella and achroia grisella
topic bee wax moth
African bees
prevention
control