European foulbrood disease in A. mellifera as documented in some districts of Haryana, India

Abstract

Honeybees are highly social insects which have fascinated humanity since prehistoric times. There are at present four or more species of genus Apis viz. Apis cerana F., Apis dorsata F., Apis florea and Apis mellifera L. Of these European bee, Apis mellifera is superior to others due to maintenance of a prolific queen, less swarming tendency, gentle temperament, good honey gathering quality and guard against enemies except wasps. Honeybee colonies are attacked by a wide range of diseases among most important bacterial disease is European foulbrood disease which is caused by Gram- positive, anaerobic, lanceolate bacterium Melissococcus plutonius. Infected larvae usually die rapidly when they are 3-5 days old and in severe cases entire colonies can be lost. The present study was therefore undertaken to document EFB in apiaries of four districts of Haryana: Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Karnal. The incidence of EFB ranged from 2.94 to 45.45 per cent with a mean of 22.38 per cent.