Honeybee-Specific Lactic Acid Bacterium Supplements Have No Effect on American Foulbrood-Infected Honeybee Colonies

• Jörg G. Stephan ^[1] ; Sepideh Lamei ^[1] ; Jeffery S. Pettis ^[3] ; Kristian Riesbeck ^[2] ; Joachim R. de Miranda ^[1] ; Eva Forsgren ^[1]
  1. [1] Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

     Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

     Uppsala domkyrkoförs., Suecia

     
  2. [2] Lund University

     Lund University

     Suecia

     
  3. [3] c USDA ARS, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center-East, Beltsville, Maryland, USA

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• Localización: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, ISSN 0099-2240, Vol. 85, Nº 13, 2019
• Idioma: inglés
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  • The previously demonstrated antagonistic effects of honeybee-derived bacterial microbiota on the infectivity and pathogenicity of P. larvae in laboratory bioassays have identified a possible new approach to AFB control. However, honeybee colonies are complex superorganisms where social immune defenses play a major role in resistance against disease at the colony level. Few studies have investigated the effect of beneficial microorganisms on bee diseases at the colony level. Effects observed at the individual bee level do not necessarily translate into similar effects at the colony level. This study partially fills this gap by showing that, unlike at the individual level, hbs-LAB supplements did not affect AFB symptoms at the colony level. The inference is that the mechanisms regulating the honeybee microbial dynamics within a colony are too strong to manipulate positively through supplemental feeding of live hbs-LAB and that new potential remedies identified through laboratory research have to be tested thoroughly in situ, in colonies.