CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The objective of this work was to determine the behavior of the Nosemosis in different ecosystems of the Santa Fe province (Argentina) and its impact on the hives development, with the aim to establish guidelines for the disease control. The study was conducted in apiaries located in different regions of the province from March 2007 to July 2009. Hives were sampled monthly, registering data about the state of the hive (frames with bees (FWB), frames with broods, and pollen and honey stores), and bee samples were collected to count spores of Nosema sp. (NSC). Averages NSC were the highest in the year 2007 (864,914.88 spores/ml). These counts went down in the years 2008 (425,149.09 spores/ml) and 2009 (151,839.43 spores/ml). Within each year, NSC showed seasonality, being lower at spring and summer with the highest picks in the fall and at the end of the winter. A significant difference was obtained in the NSC between the apiaries located near the Paraná River coast with regard to the center of the Province. Hives at the coast showed the highest counts (p<0.001). The apiaries located in the center of the province showed more honey reserves than the apiaries in the coast (p<0.001). Honey bee colonies in temperate climates often deplete winter pollen stores because of intense brood rearing activity in the spring. Nutritional stress can be exacerbated by a simultaneous spring peak in the incidence of Nosema apis in workers. During 2007, the year with the higest NSC, also was the year with less pollen reserves. In addition, the zone of the coast, which had the major NSC, the lowest reserves of pollen were observed. Two different zones were defined inside Santa Fe Province (supporting an environmental influence) in which the diagnoses of the disease should be interpreted in a different way.

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