Survey of honeybee viruses in Syria and the role of plant extracts in stimulating the antimicrobial peptides in honeybee workers

Authors
Ahmad M. Mouhanna

Published in
International Conference Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (Iccbsa-2018), Dec 13th -16th, 2018

Abstract
Beekeepers in Syria have reported higher-than-usual colony losses (>20%) in the last 8 years. This study have been started 2009 and continuing to date. The results by RT-PCR showed that there is ‎presence of four-honey bee’s virus (Deformed wing virus DWV, Acute bee paralysis virus ‎ABPV, Chronic bee paralysis virus CBPV and Sacbrood virus SBV).
A five plant extracts were used to stimulation of honeybee immune system (Plant oils of Artemisia herba-albam, Thymus serpyllum and Citrus aurantium, and aqueous extract of plant leaves of Laurus nobilis and Aloysia citriodora.). The lethal dose (LD50%) of studied plant extracts after 24 hours of treatment ranged between 117.25 ppm for the A herba-alba plant oil and 476.1 ppm for the aqueous extract of L. nobilis leaves. All studied plant extracts were significant effective in terms of increasing both the mean and median survival time of honeybees in comparison with the control. The results showed the ability of plant extracts to induce the synthesis and assembly of antimicrobial peptides in a different manner depending on the concentration used and the period of time.
Survey of honeybee viruses in Syria and the role of plant extracts in stimulating the antimicrobial peptides in honeybee workers

Keywords