Abstract

TAPIA-GONZALEZ, José María et al. Ascospherosis in honey bees and its relationship to environmental factors in Jalisco, Mexico. Rev. mex. de cienc. pecuarias [online]. 2020, vol.11, n.2, pp.468-478.  Epub Oct 23, 2020. ISSN 2448-6698.  https://doi.org/10.22319/rmcp.v11i2.4926.

Ascospherosis or chalkbrood is an infectious disease of honey bees (Apis mellifera) caused by the fungus Ascosphaera apis that results in the death of larvae. In severe cases it can cause a decrease of the population of adult bees and in the productivity of the colony. This is the first study performed in Mexico with the objective of determining the prevalence of A. apis in honeybee colonies in a beekeeping region. It was carried out in nine municipalities of southern Jalisco, distributed in two climatic zones (sub-humid and subhumid temperate warm), and the relationship of the fungus with factors such as height above sea level, precipitations and temperature was analyzed. Samples of bees were collected from 365 breeding colonies, of which 74.1 % were proven chalkbrood-positive by microscopic analysis. 75.6 % of the colonies in the warm area and 72.2 % of those of the temperate area were A. apis-positive and were not significantly different in terms of the prevalence of chalkbrood (P>0.05). The logistic regression analysis indicated that the increase in rainfall also significantly increases the number of colonies infected with A. apis (odds= 3.53; P<0.01). There was a significant correlation between the rainfall and the proportion of ascospherosis-positive cases (r= 0.87, P= 0.003). The other studied factors had no significant relationship with cases of ascospherosis. Due to the high percentages of colonies infected with A. apis found in this study, further research should be considered in order to determine the causes of the high prevalence of this fungus in honey bee colonies in the state of Jalisco.

Keywords : Ascosphaera apis; Apis mellifera; Environmental effects; Jalisco.