Testing the effectiveness of a commercially sold probiotic on restoring the gut microbiota of honey bees: a field study

Abstract

Antibiotic use in apiculture is often necessary to ensure the survival of honey bee colonies. However, beekeepers are faced with the dilemma of needing to combat bacterial brood infections while knowing that antibiotics also kill beneficial bacteria important for bee health. In recent years, bee probiotics have become increasingly purchased by beekeepers because of product claims like, being able to “replenish the microbes lost due to agricultural modifications of honey bees’ environment” or “promote optimal gut health.” Unfortunately, these products have little scientific evidence to support their efficacy, and previous lab experiments have refuted some of their claims. Here, we performed hive-level field experiments to test the effectiveness of SuperDFM-HoneyBee™, the most commonly purchased honey bee probiotic in the United States, on restoring the honey bee gut microbiome after antibiotic treatment. Our results indicated that bees administered the probiotic after antibiotic treatment did not recover their microbiota faster than bees only given the antibiotic treatment. Moreover, the microorganisms in the probiotic supplement were never found in the guts of the worker bee samples, even during active treatment. These results highlight that more basic research is needed to test the efficacy and outcomes of currently available commercial honey bee probiotic supplements