ABSTRACT
This article compares the development of the highly infectious COVID-19 disease in humans with infections or infestations in honey bees. The importance of knowledge on the exotic nature of COVID-19 and each of its variants in providing a useful insight as to how it would be expected to develop, and in particular the expected reduction in its virulence over time, is also discussed.
ABSTRACT
In the Canadian Maritimes, many beekeepers rent honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae), hives to growers of lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium (Ericaceae), for pollination services. Anecdotally, hives have less vigour following pollination, potentially due to higher Nosema spp. (Nosematidae) spore loads, the microsporidian causing nosemosis. We undertook a study to determine whether sending honey bee hives to lowbush blueberry fields for pollination (blueberry hives) results in higher Nosema spp. spore loads relative to hives remaining in apiaries (home hives). Nosema spp. spore loads were quantified using light microscopy. Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae were differentiated using polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Nosema spp. spore loads were greatest in April and May and declined to low levels from June to September. Ninety-eight per cent of Nosema detections were positive for N. ceranae. In April, blueberry hives had a lower spore load than home hives did;however, in June, spore loads were significantly higher in blueberry hives. No other differences in Nosema spp. spore loads were observed between hive types. We conclude that Nosema ceranae is the dominant Nosema species in the Canadian Maritimes and that using hives for lowbush blueberry pollination does not appear to influence long-term Nosema spp. spore loads.
ABSTRACT
This paper examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected those interested in honey bees and the outdoors. It was investigated whether being outdoors and/or beekeeping has been a benefit to mental health using personal stories, examples from research, beekeeping groups, communities and the health service. The increase in online beekeeping teaching resources has helped bring knowledge about bees to perhaps a wider audience than previously, but training to become a beekeeper does need a certain hands-on element with beehives in an apiary setting. This is not just in order to gain confidence in handling bees, but also to learn from other beekeepers, and to bond in a social context. Although it is clear from the personal contributions to this article that beekeeping has helped immensely during the time of the COVID-19 crisis, more scientific research is needed to quantify the actual wellbeing effects. However, watching bees feeding on the flowers in gardens and parks is without doubt a pleasurable activity, and can be done by everyone.
ABSTRACT
Exotic pest and disease investigations are managed and reported by the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI's) Diagnostic and Surveillance Directorate. This article presents a summary of investigations of suspect exotic and emerging pests and diseases in New Zealand during the period from July to September 2021.
ABSTRACT
This proceedings contains 10 papers on risk management policy of the ministry of health, labour and welfare for ensuring safe wild game meat, prospective of application of food safety risk assessment for game meat, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for animal owners, shelter medicine and COVID-19, the characteristics of bats as natural reservoirs of the novel coronavirus, chalkbrood in honey bees and its control measures, the economic impact of classical swine fever in Japan, benzalkonium chloride resistance in Listeria monocytogenes isolated in Japan, COVID-19 outbreak and epidemiological research in Japan and the amendment of the act on domestic animal infectious diseases control.
ABSTRACT
For centuries, honey, the main bee-hive product, has been widely used as an effective therapeutic agent against several health disorders, in addition to its extensive uses as a natural-healthy and energetic food. Further, bee-honey is a beneficial substance when we explore the many uses in medicine, including bacteria-and-virus killing such as Covid-19, body-protecting chemicals, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer activities. Honey is characterized by complex and variable chemical compositions depending on several fac-tors;botanical origin, climatic condition, bee health, and other stress factors, in particular, uncontrolled use of pesticides and adulteration in this product. Additionally, honey contains an important number of bioactive compounds (carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals) whose main roles are involved in medical therapies and wound healing. Thus, this review summarizes the literature about the chemical composition, biological activity, and factors affecting bee-honey production and quality.
ABSTRACT
These proceedings contain a number of papers discussing current topics, from hives and beekeeping conditions, through the latest knowledge on good practice in pest control in agriculture through the quality of honey, its presence on the world market and control of counterfeiting to the health effects of honey and other bee products. Topics on COVID-19 are included from the aspect of the impact on beekeeping and the potential application of bee products in relieving the symptoms of the disease.
ABSTRACT
One of the empirical and image products of the Republic of Moldova is bee honey. Its assortment is due to the variety of landforms, as well as the diversity of flora specific to geographical regions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic consumers had limited access to bee honey. This was caused by the restrictions imposed in order to organize fairs and agricultural markets which are one of the main sources for the purchase of bee products in the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the analysis of trademarks in supermarkets highlighted the preferences of honey consumption as follows: polyfloral honey-28.57%, lime honey-20.40% and acacia honey-14.28%. In order to evaluate the quality of honey from small producers and highlight the specific characteristics of geographical areas, 60 samples were analyzed that included 3 types of honey: polyflora, sunflower and linden collected from 3 different geographic areas: Soroca area (North), area Ungheni (Center), Stefan Voda area (South). Honey samples were declared harvest of 2020. They were analyzed physico-chemically using methods provided by national and EU standards. The results obtained from the analysis of pollen in honey confirm the botanical origin declared by beekeepers and allowed to highlight the types of pollen specific to each area. Following the determination of qualitative indices: reaction with ethyl alcohol, with resorcinol;insoluble matter, cereal flour, gelatin and starch, it was found that the most inconsistencies were found in linden honey. Some indicators were close to the maximum permissible values specified in regulatory documents. The water content found in the honey samples was quite varied, and ranged from 16.05% +or- 0.11% to 19.89% +or- 0.13%, but these samples were within the limits of the standards. Total acidity ranged from 6.19 +or- 0.13 to 27.20 +or- 0.03 which falls within the established norms (up to 50.00 cm3 NaOH solution in (milliequivalents) per 100 g of honey). According to the SIE Lab space, all samples have a yellowish tint, this is indicated by positive values on the b* axis. However, honey samples from the southern region of Moldova showed the presence of greenish pollen, as evidenced by the reduced values on the a* axis. Our research reveals the quality level of honey from three different areas of the Republic of Moldova and the variation of quality parameters due to factors such as geographical region, climatic conditions, botanical origin and handling or storage conditions.