USDA SARE NRC Grant (LNC21-459)

A Sustainable Approach to Control Varroa Mites - Improving the Quality of Queens using Local Resources

Project objectives:

By comparing feral stocks with commercial package colonies, the aims listed below will be achieved:

1) to reveal the quality of flight ability and mating ability, we will compare the flight abilities of virgin queens using flight mills in the lab;

2) to analyze levels of oxidative stress of queen pupae using physiological assays;

3) to reveal the difference in the population, we aim to investigate the genetic variation in the genome of queen bees;

4) to educate bee farmers on queen rearing and grafting, the Central State University Research and Extension programs will provide hands-on workshops and customized classes on queen grafting, genetic diversity, and queen disease;

5) to work with Purdue University (1862 Land-Grant Institution) and regional queen breeders to select mite biters, and

6) to train minority students on pollinator health and apicultural research. We will work with beekeepers and queen breeders from the North Central Region for queen breeding efforts.

Project personnel

Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay (PI)

Other personnel

Danielle Kroh (Field Technician) 

Laverne Ambrister (Undergraduate Researcher)

Heaven Strachan (Undergraduate Researcher)

Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop  (HHBBC) - partner

Project news

*June 3-7th, 2024,  Annual Queen Instrumental Insemination and Breeding Event at CSU Bee research lab.

*May 16-17, 2024, CSU bee lab and Former State Apiariest Barbarba Bloestrcher hosted the 5th annual CSU Queen Bee Workshop for 20 beekeepers and bee farmers and shared our USDA SARE research. 

*Central State University Bee Webinar from Dr. Zachary Huang, Michigan State University.  The registartin link is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/research-seminar-effects-of-different-stresses-on-honey-bees-zac-huang-tickets-850016751987?aff=oddtdtcreator

*August 2023. New single-cell seq libraries were sent for sequencing. 

*December 2022. A new postdoctoral researcher Dr. Zixiao Zhao was hired for this project.

Project Products and Photos

USDA SARE NRC Grant (ONC19-062)

Improving the Honeybee Queen Qualities and Genetic Diversity by Transferring Selected Queen Cells

A CSU Project

Project abstract:

Honeybees are the most important managed pollinators contributing $15 billion to the US economy. However, managed bee colonies are in a 60% annual decline in Ohio. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is the most severe factor for disease and weakness of the colonies since 1987. Promoting mite resistant bees is one of the most effective ways to mitigate the bee decline. We have a collection of bee stocks from feral colonies that are mite resistant. However, the limit factor for local honeybee resources is fewer queens and nuclei available to fulfill the demand of beekeepers in the region.  Working with experienced queen producers, we will investigate how to improve the queen quality of honeybee stocks by using the queen cells. Our objectives are 1) to test the possibility of 48-hr queen cells for efficient queen bee production, 2) to increase the queen quality and genetic diversity of honey bee stocks that display mite resistance behavior by using queen cells, 3) and to distribute queens with mite resistant traits to local beekeepers by organizing 4 workshops to educate beekeepers on queen biology. The outcome is to improve the quality and quantity of queen production in Ohio.

Project objectives:

 1) to test the possibility of 48-hr or 60-hr queen cells for efficient queen bee production, 

2) to increase the queen quality and genetic diversity of honey bee stocks that display mite resistance behavior by using queen cells, 

3) and to distribute 200 queens with mite resistant traits to local beekeepers. Our project will significantly improve the beekeepers’ understanding of the biology of queen bees, and help to transfer and distribute favorable genetics to more bee farmers. The outcome is to improve the quality and quantity of queen production in the region.

Project personnel

Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay (PI)

Other personnel

Ashley Cordle (Field Technician) 

Xaryn Cleare (Undergraduate Researcher)

Dorothey Morgan (Farmer Partner)

Mark Beougher (Farmer Partner)

Project news

*April 28th, 2021, beekeeper partner Mark Beougher gave a webinar talk on "Swarm Traping a Genetic Resource and 48hr queen cells"

*April 14th, 2021, State Apiariest Barbarba Bloestrcher gave a webinar talk on "Important Steps to Certify Your Apiary". 

*From April  to June 2021, we will hold our online Central State University Bee Webinar Series: Caring for Honey Bee Queens. The registartin link is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/central-state-university-bee-webinar-series-caring-for-honey-bee-queens-registration-144473912361

*June 2020. New experiments on 48-hr queen cells start. 

* Oct-Nov, 2019. We are working on our field data for 2019 season. 

* Nov. 7th, 2019. We finished our field mite and bee sample collection for 2019 season.  

* Nov. 2nd, 2019. We presented our SARE research and recruit future participants for 2020 workshop at the Ohio State Beekeeper Association Fall Conference, Plain City, OH.

* July 20th, 2019. We have had our 2nd workshop on queen biology (SARE grant) and distributed 50 queen cells to Southern and Western Ohio beekeepers. 

* July 8-10th, 2019. We presented our SARE research at the Heartland Apiculture Society (HAS) Conference, Bowling Green, KY.

* June 1st, 2019. We have successfully held our first Queen Biology Workshop (SARE grant) at Central State University.

* April 2019. We have started our new USDA SARE grant - "Improving the Honeybee Queen Qualities and Genetic Diversity by Transferring Selected Queen Cells".