New funds for bee virus testing

by SUSAN MANN

The Ontario Beekeepers Association has received $244,000 in funding for a project aimed in part at improving the bee breeders program in the province.

Les Eccles, lead specialist with the association’s technology transfer program, says the funding comes from the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Council. The total project cost is more than 300,000. The association is providing the balance of the money through an in-kind contribution.

Funding for the project is completed in September 2013. But Eccles says the project will continue beyond that because there are always improvements that can be done in agricultural research.

The project includes virus testing to find resistance to bee viruses. “That’s the new frontier of bee research as far as diseases go,” he explains.

They’ll also be doing research on fertility testing on queen bees to improve their longevity. This part of the project will involve working with the Queen Breeders Association to improve their breeding program in general. “We’ll give them a better guide on what to follow and how to use the information they have better.”

Researchers will produce a manual for breeders as part of the project.

Eccles says they’ll be doing more innovative pest and disease management research that is more specific to beekeepers’ goals. Currently all of the recommendations are geared to honey production. But there are a lot of other aspects to beekeeping, such as producing queens and bees for sale. “A big part now is pollination services.”

Management for pollination services is different than it is for honey production, he says. Beekeepers who provide pollination services need bee nutrition management information and researchers will be developing that material.

For example, when bees are sent to do pollination in blueberry fields the bees may be lacking in protein because blueberries only have nectar and not pollen. The bees need pollen for protein, he explains. Beekeepers will have to supplement with pollen while the bees are doing blueberry pollination and manage their bees completely differently than someone with a bee colony that’s producing honey.

Eccles says they’ll be using the laboratory services of University of Guelph and University of Manitoba for the project. BF