Figure 1.
Change in the total bee population (Florida).
The number of bees in the Remebee-I+IAPV was significantly different 5 weeks later (N = 40, p<0.002) compared to the control and IAPV alone treatments which were not significantly different (N = 40, p>0.25). There was no significant difference between treatments at start or at end points of the PA trial.
Figure 2.
Net weight gain in hives (Florida).
Total weight gained by the hives in the different treatments corresponds mainly to amount of honey collected. Remebee-I+IAPV hives produced significantly more honey compared with IAPV only treated hives (N = 40, p<0.03). Honey production in control colonies and IAPV colonies were not significantly different (N = 40, p>0.2).
Figure 3.
Net weight gain in hives (Pennsylvania).
Total weight gained by the hives in the different treatments corresponds mainly to amount of honey collected. The difference between the weight at the start and the end of the experiment (4 months) shows that the non infected controls (mean = 23.5kg) and the Remebee-I+IAPV (mean = 21kg) made significantly more honey than hives receiving IAPV alone (mean = 16.3kg) (F = 2.7; df = 4.92; P = 0.034).
Figure 4.
Nosema spore counts at the 4 weeks and at the end point of the Pennsylvania trial. At 4 weeks after virus introduction, IAPV only and Remebee-I+IAPV Nosema spore counts were elevated in contrast to the uninfected control, but insignificantly so because of the large variance. However, 8 weeks later, levels of Nosema spores were significantly greater in the IAPV only group (1.02 million per bee) relative to the uninfected control (0.36 million per bee) (N = 31, p<0.006). Remarkably, spore levels in the treatment group receiving Remebee-I+IAPV (0.33 million per bee) were not significantly different from the uninfected control (N = 30, p>0.89), but were significantly different from the IAPV only cluster (N = 27, p<0.007). BACI design; Proc mixed = repeated measured analysis with unstructured covariance matrix. No effect of treatment over time. Df = 4, 95; F = 0.47; P = 0.7586.
Table 1.
Summary of Remebee-I treatment on honey bee health and mortality.
Table 2.
Treatment Groups.
Table 3.
Treatment schedule for Florida and Pennsylvania locations.