STUDIES ON SOME FUNGAL DISEASES INFECTING THE BROOD IN HONEY BEE COLONIES

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Elbassiouny¹, A.M.; Late M.A. EL-Banby¹; A.A.Gomaa¹ and M.A.M. Ali¹

Abstract

The present study deals with isolation and purification of five different species of fungi from infected honey bees. These fungi were comprimized due to the differential in colour and shape. They were classified and identified according to the following symptoms as follows:

a.  Black coloured fungi which were identified as Aspergillus niger.

b. Cotton fibre like fungi which identified as Ascosphaera apis.

c. Green coloured fungi which were identified as Aspergillus flavus

d. Gray coloured fungi which were identified as Tieghemiomyces sp

e. White coloured ftmgi which were identified as Curvularia sp  

Pathogenicity tests were carried out on these species of fungi. The obtained
results revealed that Ascosphaera apis. and  Aspergillus flavus had pathogenic effects, while the other three fungi Aspergillus niger, Tieghemiomyces sp and Curvularia sp were non-pathogenic. The effects of entomopathogenic fungi on different developmental stages of honey bee were taken into consideration to find out the most susceptible larval instar and stages for these fungal Infections. It is concluded that, the first three larval instars were more resisted to fungal infection than the other instars.