Garlic, Allium sativum L. and Onion, Allium cepa L. as a Potent Anti-mite Varroa destructor, Parasited on Honey Bee, Apis mellifera L. in Egypt.

Abstract

The parasitic mite, Varroa destructor is one of the most important pests attacking apiaries all over the world. The aim of work is to evaluate the effects of fresh garlic, onion, mix of them, garlic oil and onion oil against Varroa mite in the honey bee colonies in Sohag Governorate. Data revealed that, all tested materials were effective when compared with control. The treatment with fresh garlic led to the highest percentage of fallen Varroa mite with 94.29% of the total Varroa presented in the bee colony, followed insignificantly by the mixture of garlic and onion (93.60%), garlic oil (91.55%) and onion oil (89.91%), however, the lowest percentage was recorded in fresh onion treatment with 85.33% of the total Varroa presented in the bee hive. Also, it is clear that the highest reduction percentage was recorded after the first application in all materials, the number of applications needed to satisfactory Varroa control differed depending on material type.