EVALUATION OF 4 SEED-DERIVED OILS AS CONTROLS FOR ACARAPIS-WOODI (ACARI, TARSONEMIDAE) IN COLONIES OF APIS-MELLIFERA (HYMENOPTERA, APIDAE)

Four seed-derived oils were evaluated in field trials as control agent s for the parasitic tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi (Rennie), in colonie s of the honey bee, Apis mellifera (L.). Seventy-one honey bee colonie s infested with the tracheal mite were each assigned to 1 of 4 treatme nt groups or to a control group. Treatments were peanut, soybean, sunf lower, or canola oil, delivered as patties after blending with confect ioner sugar (2 parts sugar/1 part oil [wt:wt]). All 5 groups had simil ar mite prevalence values (proportion of infested bees) and parasite l oad scores (a measure of the number of mites per bee) before initiatin g treatment. Each colony received five 500-g patties delivered approxi mately every 14 d starting on 16 September 1992 and continuing until 1 December 1992. Mite prevalence values, parasite load scores, and colo ny weight gains (an indicator of honey production) were measured the f ollowing spring. Average mite prevalence values obtained on 4 and 5 Ma y 1993 in the treated groups ranged from 0.015 to 0.027, compared with 0.094 in the control group. The mite prevalence value in each treatme nt group was less than the mite prevalence value in the control group. Similar differences were observed for parasite load scores. Differenc es in colony weight gains among the 5 groups were not significant.