Do you know what apivectoring is?

Bee scientist Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, and a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) faculty, defines it in a recent edition of Bee Culture. This was part of her series of articles about UC Davis bee research and Extension programming, as requested by editor Jerry Hayes.

"This simply means using bees, specifically from genus Apis, to deliver a biocontrol agent for controlling a variety of pests and pathogens associated with crops," she wrote.

Niño recounted that she learned the technology from integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom, now a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus (on recall). Zalom is an internationally recognized entomologist who served as president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) and is an Honorary Member of ESA, the organization's highest honor. (One could write a book about Zalom's expertise and activities! But see this article which chronicles much of his work.)

But back to Niño's article. "He (Zalom) was involved in projects using honey bees to deliver biocontrol agent Trichoderma spp. for control of Botrytis on strawberries in Southern California," she wrote. "He explained a fairly simple, but sophisticated process and I was hooked."

"I submitted a couple of proposals for projects primarily targeting brown rot blossom blight, a potentially devastating disease (caused by Monilinia laxa) occurring during almond bloom," Niño continued. "Considering the impact that the almond industry has on California agriculture and the beekeeping industry we really wanted to focus our efforts on bringing this technology into the almond orchards. The incidence of disease increases during particularly wet blooming season and growers must rely on use of fungicides for control. The goal of the project was to boost bloom coverage using honey bees already in the orchards for pollination, potentially reducing the need for fungicide sprays and improving pollinator protection, as well as minimizing development of resistance in the almond pathogens."

Niño related that her first couple of proposals were rejected, as is common, "although the reviewers had many valuable points of input for improving the project." She reached out to UC Davis plant pathologist Florent Trouillas and UC Davis entomologist and microbiologist Rachel Vannette "and we applied again. This time we received seed funding from UC Davis via the Academic Federation Innovative Developmental Award and the Almond Board of California."

Niño went on to define apivectoring more precisely as "a fairly straightforward process that uses, in our case, managed bees such as bumble bees and honey bees to transfer powder form of a biological control agent from flower to flower. It capitalizes on characteristics of a good pollinator: they obviously fly from flower to flower and they are fuzzy allowing the biological agent and its carrier powder to stick to the body of a bee. Commonly, the biocontrol agent is a microorganism (e.g., bacteria, fungus) which is mixed with a carrier powder such as starch, and placed in a dispenser that is attached to the entrance of a hive."

"As the bees walk out of the hive they go through this dispenser collecting the powder on their hairs, and as they fly from flower to flower the powder containing the biocontrol agent is deposited on flowers they visit as they collect pollen and nectar. Once the bees comes back to the hive they reenter the hive through a different entrance so the biocontrol is not wasted. This actually opens up another application possibility where the returning bees could walk through another dispenser containing, for example, a biocontrol agent for Varroa mite control. I hope you now understand why I am so excited about this technology which has actually been around for a while and has been used fairly successfully in other crops (e.g., strawberries, apples, tomatoes, sunflowers, canola) for control of both pathogen and insect pests."

In her article, Niño shares her experiences at a 2019 apivectoring workshop in Serbia, hosted at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology. Read her entire article on apivectoring at https://www.beeculture.com/the-uc-davis-series-2/

Niño, who holds a doctorate in entomology from The Pennsylvania State University, joined the UC Davis/UC Agriculture and Natural Resources program in 2014, replacing retiring Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (1944-2022). In 2016 she founded and continues to direct the much-heralded UC Master Beekeeper Program.