The effect of varroa gate traps on varroa population in Van ecological conditions

The cultural control of varroa parasites includes the method of controlling these parasites without the use of chemicals and aims to keep the parasites under the economic harm threshold instead of eliminating them. For this purpose, the recently developed Varroa Gate has been used by the producers. However, the efficiency of the Varroa Gate Traps is yet to be determined scientifically. The present study aimed to determine the impact of the traps on the Varroa population. The honey bee material included 10 F1 Caucasian (Apis mellifera caucasica) colonies in the study. The 5 colonies in gated hives were compared with the other 5 colonies in non-gated hives (control group) and it was determined that the difference between the groups was not statistically significant after the experiment (p <0.05). In the control of varroa, which leads to significant productivity losses in beekeeping, applications that do not cause residue problems in the product and are suitable for bee biology should be preferred instead of synthetic methods. Thus, further studies on Varroa gate traps applications should be conducted. Future studies should be conducted in early spring and late autumn seasons, when the closed offspring cells are minimal in the colonies, and with a higher number of colonies.