Varroa mite infestation in apiaries of Duhok province, Kurdistan region, Iraq

Abstract

Although Varroa mite infestation of honey bee is widespread throughout the world but data about the level of infestation in the bees of our area are inadequate. Therefore the present study was carried out to determine Varroa mite infestation level in the apiaries of Duhok Province, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A total of 500 samples of adult honey bee workers from more than twenty separated apiaries were collected from August to the end of October, 2013. Caped brood from five apiaries were examined in which drone pupae were collected in early summer, 2013, while worker pupae samples were collected from August to the end of October, 2013. Sticky Boards without acaricide and with three different acaricides namely Apistan, Chekmite + and Wangs were used in three apiaries. Varroa mite infestation level was 33% in adult workers. High levels of Varroa mite infestation were recorded in drone pupae samples in which the highest level was 65% in apiary A3, while the lowest level was 36% in apiary A4. Varroa mite infestation occurred in the worker pupae from all tested apiaries in which the highest level was 34% in apiary A5 and the lowest level was 20% in apiary A3. The number of naturally felled down mites were low in the first week in all apiaries but increased after six weeks of the study. The number of felled down mites in the first week was the highest 220 felled down female mites per colony with acaricide Wangs.