Improvement of Technological Stages in Beekeeping With Disinfection Measures

Abstract

Disinfection is a very important technological measure, which is carried out to combat infectious diseases of bees and prevent contamination of beekeeping products with harmful microorganisms. The disinfection procedure is very complex, and its effectiveness depends on a large number of factors: the spectrum of the disinfectant, the method of application, the concentration of the disinfectant, the exposure time, and the properties of the environment to be disinfected. Active components of disinfectants usually affect the metabolism of microorganisms. For disinfection in beekeeping, we can use iodine preparations, bases, acids, quaternary ammonium compounds, oxidizers (hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid). Effective chemical disinfectants are a warm solution of sodium hydroxide, oxidizers, so these disinfectants are most often used in beekeeping. However, the negative properties of these disinfectants should also be considered. There is no perfect disinfectant. Because of the toxicity and other harmful effects of disinfectants, and often their ineffectiveness, physical methods of disinfection should be implemented whenever possible. The article presents the results of studies of such disinfectants as Septox, PHMG – HC and Crystal-700 in concentrations of 0.25%, 0.5%, 1.5%, as well as a comparative description of their effectiveness during “in vitro” disinfection on test objects (glass, veneer, wax) contaminated with spores of Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae and Ascosphaera apis. Test controls were: No. 1 – sterile physiological solution; No. 2 – Desvax (4% formaldehyde solution with 0.05% DMSO), a drug approved for disinfection of bee inventory in Ukraine (Deklaratsiinyi patent 61387A, 2003, Rudenko, 2012). The test objects were immersed in the test solutions and kept for 3, 9, 18 hours. To determine the intestinal toxicity, the test substances were fed to bees and the time and number of dead individuals were monitored. According to the results of the sanitary and hygienic assessment of individual indicators of chemical disinfectants, the best disinfecting properties were demonstrated by 1.5% solutions of polyhexamethyleneguanidine hydrochloride, sodium hypochlorite and Crystal-700, which are environmentally safe, non-toxic, non-volatile, non-aggressive towards metals, plastics, wood, convenient to use. They can be recommended for long-term antiseptic protection, preventive, forced, current and final disinfection for bacterial, fungal and viral infections.