2018 OBA Tech-Transfer Program Research Projects/Programs

 

Honey bees are a crucial part of Canadian agriculture, contributing at least $4.6 billion/y: they produce between eighty and ninety thousand tonnes of honey each year and their pollination activities directly support the production of many fruits, nuts and vegetable crops. But the health of honey bees has been declining over the past decade, with Canadian beekeepers losing more than a quarter of their colonies each winter since 2006-07. We often replace these colonies by purchasing bees and queens from offshore but we cannot rely on these sources because of the risk of importing new diseases or invasive strains of honey bees (such as the Africanized ‘killer’ bee). The high colony losses, coupled with the possible loss of access to replacement sources, pose a serious threat to the productivity of major Canadian agri-food industries and jeopardize our food security. Left unchecked, the production and accessibility of fruits, nuts and vegetables will decline. Our team of researchers will improve the health of Canadian honey bees by developing new genomic and proteomic tools that will enable beekeepers to rapidly and cost-effectively breed healthy, disease-resistant, productive bee colonies that are better able to survive our harsh Canadian winters. The availability of high-quality, locally bred honey bees should reduce Canada’s dependence on imported queens. In parallel, we will increase the safety of bee importations by developing an accurate and cost effective assay to detect bees with Africanized genetics. Our research team will work with a large number of beekeepers, industry technology-transfer teams, diagnostic labs and government regulators to ensure that our ‘omic tools are implemented and accessible to the beekeeping industry by the end of the project. Our innovative efforts will help guard the safety and sustainability of the beekeeping industry, ensuring our food security and supporting more than $4 billion in value to the Canadian economy.

Our project is funded in part through Large-Scale Applied Research Project (LSARP) from Genome Canada. Other funding partners include Genome British Colombia, Genome Alberta, Genome Quebec, the University of British Columbia, York University, the BC Ministry of Agriculture, and the BC Honey Producers Association.

 

START DATE: December 2014

END DATE: December 2018

FUNDING SOURCE: Genome Canada, Partnerships Agreement with York University

 

 

Honeybees are the most valuable pollinators; their pollinating activities account for one third of our food. Thus, maintaining their populations and health is of vital importance for agriculture. However, in  the past seven winters, more than 30% of Ontario colonies have perished each year. The losses in  colonies, honey yields and agricultural crops exceed $50 million a year in Ontario. Scientists agree that  the mite Varroa destructor and one of the viruses it transmits, Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), are  critical factors causing winter colony mortality. Winter hardy, mite and virus tolerant stock that is  locally produced is an essential part component of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, and  the most sustainable method of control of these losses. This project responds to this urgent need. Bees  will be bred for reduced mite population growth in beekeepers’ operations during two seasons and the  selected population will be evaluated for colony survival, health, mite levels, DWV levels and genes  associated with resistance.  

 

START DATE: 2018  

END DATE: 2021  

FUNDING SOURCE: OMAFRA New Directions  

 

 

The long-term goal is to characterize the extracts of essential oils to (i) develop inhibitors  (antivirulence compounds) against key bacterial toxins produced by P. larvae for the prevention and  treatment of AFB and (ii) to develop miticides effective at controlling V. destructor infestations in  honeybees. This will be manifested in the development of a formulation consisting of inhibitory and  miticidal compounds extracted and purified from essential oils. This will be achieved with novel  methods in molecular modelling, structural biology, and computational chemistry – framed into  structure-based drug discovery approaches – combined with experimental validation for AFB-infected  and V. destructor-infested larvae.  

 

START DATE: 2018  

END DATE: 2021  

FUNDING SOURCE: OMAFRA New Directions 

 

 

Varroa destructor is a parasite which attacks the honeybee and its repercussions are felt right across the  country. Current treatments involve several complications and finding an alternative is therefore  imperative. To address this problem, selecting bees with the Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH)  behavioral trait would be a more efficient and sustainable solution. This behavior allows the colony to  keep the varroa population under control, by limiting the reproductive success of the mites. Therefore,  the objective of this study is to determine the ideal percentage of expression of this VSH behavioral  trait that is to be maintained in the bee colonies, so that they will be able to combat varroosis  effectively, without adversely affecting the other selection criteria usually applied by beekeepers.  Selected colonies will be distributed to Canadian queen breeders and beekeepers.  

 

START DATE: 2018  

END DATE: 2021  

FUNDING SOURCE: OMAFRA New Directions  

 

 

Honeybee colony health has been under increased pressure from pests, diseases and pesticide exposure  over the last 20 years. The main pest culprit that affects honey bee health and is responsible for a large  portion of the annual 30% colony winter mortality are the varroa mites (V. Destructor) (Guzman-Nova  et al, 2010). Low varroa mite levels in crucial in maintaining healthy honeybee colonies that must  

overwinter in Ontario’s beekeeping climate and to reduce winter colony mortality. Beekeepers  implement Integrated Pest Management Programs (IPM) in order to apply multiple management tools  to control varroa mites which include in-hive acaricides. A major gap in IPM strategies to combat  varroa are tested and approved in-hive treatments that can be applied during mid-season honey flows,  that would allow beekeepers to keep varroa mite levels below damaging thresholds and improve the  health of honeybees that need to survive the winter months. This project will address this gap by  implementing field trials for 3 different mid-season treatments that could be used during honey  production.  

The objective of this project is to test varroa mite treatments that would be applied during mid-season  (honey production); in order to reduce varroa mite levels before varroa loads can pass damaging  thresholds before fall treatment opportunities. Along with controlling varroa mites, these treatments should not contaminate honey suppers that are on colonies during the treatment application. The  products to be tested are: oxalic acid drizzle method (Skinner et al, 2007), oxalic acid glycerine  method (Maggi et al, 2016), formic acid “flash” method (Skinner et al, 2007). These are known and  tested treatment applications during spring and fall, but have not been tested or recommended for use  during mid-season for efficacy and risk of honey contamination in Ontario. 

START DATE: 2018  

END DATE: 2021  

FUNDING SOURCE: OMAFRA New Directions