D3221: The role of nutrition in managing honey bee viral pathogenicity

A common tactic for managing Apis mellifera colonies is providing nutrition supplements at specific time points, promoting brood production and overwintering colony survival. Periods of nutritional stress can cause decreased immune system function in honey bees, leading to increased susceptibility to other biological factors that increase colony mortality. In particular, one biological factor impacted by fluctuations in immune system function is viral pathogen presence and abundance. Viral pathogens can sweep through colonies, causing mortality, and it is unknown if supplementing hives with artificial pollen will reduce viral pathogenicity and abundance in individuals. This experiment provides beekeepers with four weeks of AP23 artificial pollen supplements, testing hives for pre-and post- viral presence and abundance, including Deformed Wing Virus-A, Deformed Wing Virus-B, and Lake Sinai Virus-2. Thirty-three hobbyist beekeepers participated in this citizen science project, with data collected at 4-week intervals from March through October between 2020 and 2021 across Kentucky. Young nurse bees were collected from one hundred and forty-two colonies for quantitative PCR and PCR of pollinator viruses previously detected in the state through the Bee Informed USDA honey bee survey. So far, this artificial pollen supplementation showed no significant impacts on Deformed Wing Virus-A viral loads in hives. The remaining research goals focus on understanding if this nutrition supplement is involved in the viral presence of other viruses within honey bee colonies.