| Popis: |
Management, brood nest structure and factors associated with varroa mites infestation were studied in 60 apiaries of Africanized honey bees in the northwest region of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Apiaries were monitored two times. The first monitoring was taken forward between May and November 2019 (rainy season) and the second one between February and March 2020 (dry season). Information about the beekeepers, apiaries and management was collected through a survey. Amount of open and capped brood, honey and pollen were registered. The infestation rate of varroa was measured using standard laboratory methods. A determination of multi-residue pesticides in bee bread was made through GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS techniques. According to the results, most of the beekeepers produce honey (96.7%), participate in training activities (82.2%), and change the bee queens annually (70.0%). The first monitoring was characterized by a lower amount of capped brood and honey reserves than the second one. Varroa mites infestation was significantly higher in the first monitoring (6.0 ± 0.4) in comparison with the second one (3.0 ± 0.3) (U Mann-Whitney p < 0.001). The maximum value for the first monitoring exceeds 40.0%, while this value was close to 25.0% in the second monitoring. Mite infestation had direct correlations with the distance of near apiaries and the presence of perforated capping brood, while it had inverse correlations with the nuclei formation and training activities. Furthermore, twenty-three bee bread samples presented one to five pesticide residues, being the most frequent antifungal agrochemicals. |
