APIS Volume 10, Number 10, October 1992
In this issue
- Milestones--Ralph Wadlow Dies
- Antibiotic Properties of Honey--New Zealand, Manuka Honey
- Bee's Boozy Life--Drunk Bees
- Biological Control Using Honey Bees
- Resistance to APISTAN [R]
MILESTONES-RALPH WADLOW DIES
The history of beekeeping is full of colorful characters who advanced the craft in many ways. Certainly, Ralph Wadlow, who died October 4 in Fort Myers, was one of these. His passing is a true milestone in Florida apiculture. Mr. Wadlow was one of the pioneers who brought beekeeping below the frost line in Florida some 40 years ago. He was also instrumental in convincing vegetable growers that pollination by honey bees increased yields. Although he didn't study botany or genetics in college, Mr. Wadlow, nevertheless, cooperated on bee research projects at Cornell University, the University of Bogota in Colombia and the University of Florida. He was once quoted as saying he "assisted the Ph.D.s with their lily white dukes, testing theories with blisters, backaches and sweat."
Mr. Wadlow was so active in Florida and national beekeeping associations it is difficult to conceive that he will no longer be present at these functions. A charter member of the Florida State Beekeepers Association, he was a prime mover in that organization for decades, attended almost every meeting and held many responsible positions. He more than once held all the offices in the Southern States Beekeepers Federation, regularly attended Eastern Apicultural Society gatherings and was often one of Florida's delegates to the American Beekeeping Federation. He was also involved in international apicultural activities, consulting in South America (Bolivia) and attending several Apimondia conventions.
In a newspaper article about Mr. Wadlow in 1975 he said: "In South America, I am El Doctor. Here, I am a beekeeper, quite an ordinary fellow." The many, including myself, who knew Ralph don't cotton to this idea. He was extraordinary in every way.
ANTIBIOTIC PROPERTIES OF HONEY--NEW ZEALAND-MANUKA HONEY
An interesting story concerning particular honeys in New Zealand is beginning to surface. According to the August issue of the National Beekeepers' Association newsletter, Buzzwords, a Dr. Peter Molan of Waikato University recently summarized his work on the medicinal properties of honey.
Dr. Molan has gathered together the known medical research on honey and has found that it is used in many countries in the treatment of burns, blisters, bed sores and major wounds. Honey has long been used as a wound dressing, and according to Dr. Molan, it is probably the perfect substance for such a use. Not only is it antibiotic (killing almost all bacteria), it also keeps the wound from dehydrating. Almost all other wound dressings either keep the wound dry (avoiding infection, but leading to scarring), or moist (avoiding the severe effects of dehydration, but making a great medium for bacteria to grow).
Honey is also better than man-made antibiotics, Dr. Molan contends, because such antibiotics actually slow down the rate of cell growth. The moisture-attracting nature of honey, on the other hand, actually pulls body fluids and nutrients to the wound surface where they help speed skin growth and healing.
According to Dr. Molan, honey has everything going for it except the acceptance of the medical fraternity. But the recent discoveries about a second antibiotic substance in manuka honey may help change that. All honey gives off hydrogen peroxide, a known antibiotic. The hydrogen peroxide is produced when the glucose in honey reacts with oxygen. The problem with hydrogen peroxide as an antibiotic, however, is that in large concentrations it breaks down in the presence of a common enzyme (catalase), producing the characteristic fizz we see when we put it on a cut. Because it is produced slowly in honey, at a low level, the hydrogen peroxide doesn't loose it's effectiveness. Provided honey is kept away from light, the enzyme which breaks down the hydrogen peroxide won't even activate.
Dr. Molan and his students tested the hydrogen peroxide in honey on a range of bacteria and as a control removed the hydrogen peroxide with catalase. That's when they discovered the second antibacterial property in manuka honey. While not present in all samples, some showed a high level of non-peroxide inhibition over a whole range of bacteria, even at honey dilutions as low as 1.8%.
Manuka honey has also been shown to be effective against Helicobater pylori, which is now thought to be the major cause of stomach ulcers. A large number of patients will be given one tablespoon of bioactive manuka or another honey before meal times, five times a day. The patients will then be examined for the reduction in H. pylori bacteria. The trials are set to begin after the Otago University Hospital ethics committee approves the procedure. The study will hopefully be funded by a grant from the Honey Industry Trust Fund.
The exciting thing about the manuka discovery is that this non-peroxide antibiotic substance works against even highly resistant bacteria such as the MSRA bacterium which is gaining a reputation for closing down hospital wards. According to Dr. Molan, doctors may soon be looking back at the last 20 years as the golden age of antibiotics. In the near future, we may have a host of bacteria resistant to synthetic antibiotics, and the need for naturally occurring antibiotics like the one found in bioactive manuka honey will be all that more important.
Dr. Molan also is studying other honeys that might have the non-peroxide bioactive ingredient. A promising one is from the plant called vipers bugloss, also known blue borage (Echium vulgare).
BEE'S BOOZY LIFE
According to an artice in New Scientist ("Driven to Drink: A Sorry Tale of Bees' Boozy Life," August 8, 1992, p. 14), honey bees drinking fermented nectar have more flying accidents, die younger and are often rejected by teetotalers back at the hive. An Australian entomologist, Dr. Errol Hassan, is looking at bees imbibing both fermented sugar syrup and nectar. The alcohol content can be as high as 10% in these materials and adding fermented syrup or nectar to honey can make it "spiked."
How drunk bees become is based on how much nectar they consume and the alcohol content. Heavily inebriated bees have difficulty coordinating their actions, reminiscent of birds that have also fed on fermented nectar. The bees may even die or be unable to find their way back to the hive. When they do make it to the entrance, strange acting, drunk bees are rejected by the guards, Dr. Hassan says. Finally, the insects are more vulnerable to predators.
Dr. Hassan and colleagues discovered the boozy bee phenomenon while looking at beekeeping practices in Kenya. Apparently, local beekeepers were feeding the bees weak sugar solutions that often fermented. Fermentation of weak sugar syrup can be avoided by feeding bees stronger solutions and/or ensuring the insects take their food quickly. Since many beekeepers do feed sugar syrup during marginal times, this brings into focus another possible reason colonies might suffer either autumn collapse or spring dwindling of populations.
BIOCONTROL BEES
Most everyone knows that honey bees are beneficial for their pollinating activities. Now, however, ingenous experiments are at work to show these insects can also be used in the growing field of biological control ("A Beeline to Biocontrol," Agricultural Research, July, 1992, pp. 10-13). Biological control is the use of bacteria, fungi, other pathogens and predators to attack agricultural pests. Biological control targets specific pests with just as specific controls. This technology is an attractive alternative to pesticides. Chemicals are often not very specific; they kill beneficial organisms and are increasingly being blamed for causing harmful side effects to the environment.
Outbreaks of fire blight in apple orchards are the result of a lack of competing beneficial bacteria in blooms. This imbalance results in an epidemic population of a bacterium called Erwinia amylovora, which invades the flower parts causing damage. The problem, therefore, can be controlled by introducing beneficial bacteria as competition. That's where the bees come in. Experiments at the Agricultural Research Service Bee Biology and Systematics Lab (Logan, Utah) use an apparatus called a pollen insert to salt honey bees with beneficial bacteria in an effort to see if they can distribute the beneficial organisms in orchards. So far, the results have been encouraging.
The same idea is also being used in Tifton, Georgia in the fight against corn earworm. Instead of bacteria, the bees are dusted with a specific virus that affects only the offending worms. Once spread to the corn plant, the pathogen attacks the voracious caterpillars, reducing them to an innocuous liquid. It is fortunate that honey bees visit corn for pollen or the technique would not work. Using this strategy is possible for a wide variety of flowering plants and only limited by the imagination and by how much honey bees are affected by what is being distributed.
RESISTANCE TO APISTAN?
An Italian study ("Valutazione dell'efficacia dell'Apistan," L'apicoltore Moderno, Vol. 83, June, 1992, pp. 95-8) presents some disquieting data. Instead of the expected 99.6 percent of mites killed, the results showed a range of data averaging 87.2 to 90.5 percent mite mortality. The authors state that this is evidence resistant mites may be developing to fluvalinate, even when applied correctly using plastic strips [Apistan (R)]. One reason for resistance, the authors say, is perhaps because beekeepers have used illegal formulations of fluvalinate impregnated on wooden strips over a period of years.
The authors state that at the end of the 1991 antivarroa campaign in Italy, beekeepers cried victory when seeing so few mites on bottomboards after applying fluvalinate tests. Nevertheless, they caution, 1991 was a bad year (inclement spring) for bees, and application of Apistan (R) throughout the region (Bergamo province) for three consecutive years did leave Varroa mites, indicating a steady loss in effectiveness.
In conclusion, the authors say that V. jacobsoni easily develops resistance to chemicals. They urge beekeepers to be careful not to lose the war while winning a battle when treating mites. They recommend using fluvalinate legally, scrupulously adhering to recommendations on the label, treating all colonies at the same time and same season (autumn), and using other kinds of control measures in conjunction with the one material available that is effective and legal.
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1992 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
