Twelfth Annual Field Day at the Baton Rouge Bee Lab

The USDA Honey Bee Breeding Laboratory and the Louisiana Beekeepers Association will hold the twelfth annual field day on Saturday, October 18, 2008.  The event will be held at the laboratory building and grounds near the intersection of Nicholson Drive (Hwy 30) and Ben Hur Road (1157 Ben Hur Rd.).  This is about two miles south of the LSU football Stadium. Gates will open at 9:30 AM; activities are scheduled from 10:15 AM to 3:30 PM.  A registration fee ($10 for adults, $5 for children) covers expenses including a catered lunch.  Menu:  Smoked Pork Roast and Gravy over Rice, Peas, Garden Salad, Fresh Bread, Mixed Emotions Pudding

The field day will include activities for both beginners and experienced beekeepers.  A program is enclosed.  The morning program is for beginners and experienced beekeepers together, but in the afternoon the two groups will have separate activities.  Please select your afternoon group (beginner or a person with some beekeeping experience) on the registration form below. Presentations in the morning will focus on a retrospective of the past ten years of research at the laboratory.  In the afternoon, the group of beginners will be introduced to some aspects of beekeeping.  The other group (experienced beekeepers) will have access to a number of activities concerning the use of resistant bees, management of pests and diseases, beekeeping management, honey extraction and marketing of bee products (see enclosed program).

Those planning to attend must register by October 1 so the catered lunch can be arranged.  For more information contact Allen Sylvester (225/767-9291), Sandra Hineman (225/767-9280), Alva Stuard (225/261-2032), or the website for the Louisiana Beekeepers Association www.labeekeepers.org.

VISITING SCIENTIST March 2005   The laboratory hosted Dr. Nizar Haddad of Jordan for three weeks in March and early April.  Dr. Haddad is the coordinator of bee research at the National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT), which is the agricultural research arm of the national government.  His primary research interests at NCARTT involve conserving the native honey bee subspecies (A. mellifera syriaca), Jordanian bee flora, crop pollination and honey bee diseases.

Dr. Lilia de Guzman receives the IAI 2004 Exceptional Service Award

The Apiary Inspectors of America presented Dr. Lilia de Guzman with the 2004 Exceptional Service Award for her outstanding work in apiculture research. 

Dr. de Guzman studied the tolerance of the Yugoslavian honey bee to Varroa destructor and Acarapis woodii in comparison with other selected stocks for her Doctoral work at Louisiana State University.  She found that the Yugo stock was resistant enough to A. woodii to not require routine treatment.  Dr. de Guzman also was able to document a measurable resistance to V. destructor in the same stock.

In her Post-Doctoral work at the Baton Rouge Bee Lab, Dr. de Guzman studied the genetics of Varroa destructor and discovered that varroa from different origins had different levels of virulence for A. mellifera. She determined that the genus Varroa has several species, of which V. destructor is the only one that is a problem for A. mellifera.

Her recent work has been as a member of the Russian honey bee team, working on the selection of the most varroa resistant queen lines.  She has also studied the resistance of the Russian queen lines to Acarapis woodii, finding most Russian queen lines highly resistant.

The Russian Honey Bee Team earns
the 2003 Technology Transfer Team Award

For providing American beekeepers and agriculture with honey bees that are resistant to parasitic mites.

LEFT TO RIGHT:  Dr. Ed King (Director of the Mid-South Area), Dr. Ed Knipling (ARS Administrator), Gary Delatte, Dr. Tom Rinderer (Team Leader), Rachel Watts, Dr. Jeffrey Harris, Lorraine Beaman, Victor Rainey, Dr. Lilia de Guzman, Dr. Allen Sylvester, David Dodge, Tony Stelzer, Dr. José Villa, Dr. Bob Danka and Dr. Richard Brenner (Deputy Assistant Administrator)

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