How do I take samples for Plan Bee?
Our national honey bee genetic improvement program, Plan Bee, is offering free genetic testing to bee breeders who are collecting performance data.
Renewed partnership to benefit the Australian Manuka Industry
AgriFutures Australia has welcomed the opportunity for an ongoing partnership with ManukaLife, collaborating to provide a further opportunity for the Australian Manuka industry to enter the high-grade Manuka honey market.
2021 Plan Bee Survey
A 2021 survey of 109 Australian beekeepers was conducted to determine beekeeper attitudes and opinions surrounding genetic improvement of honey bees in Australia. The study asked beekeepers about their queen replacement strategies, what colony traits are most important to them and their perception of Plan Bee and genetic improvement.
AgriFutures Emerging Industries Program research spotlight: Australian Manuka
AgriFutures Australia has welcomed the opportunity for an ongoing partnership with ManukaLife, collaborating to provide a further opportunity for the Australian Manuka industry to enter the high-grade Manuka honey market.
Industry summary
Neuroprotective compositions of eastern Australian monofloral honeys
The antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties of honey are well-known in both modern and pre-modern medicine. However, we are only just starting to understand what aspects of honey are responsible for this activity, and that there are many different aspects of honey that may help humans in other ways.
Australia is known internationally has having some of the most unique monofloral honeys in the world. This is due to the diversity of floral resources available to honey bees in the country. One of the most common floral resources is the eucalyptus tree and honeys produced from bees’ use of different eucalyptus species are known to vary.
Understanding whether various eucalyptus honeys exhibit antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties will allow us to consider honey compounds as treatments for a range of diseases. This research investigated 33 monofloral honey samples from New South Wales and Queensland to determine whether they exhibit these properties, and whether they break down acetylcholinesterase, a target enzyme during treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
This research identified Gum Top Box honey and Silver Leaf Ironbark honey as having potential neuroprotective activity. This research has demonstrated Australian monofloral honeys contain properties that could help with treating Alzheimer’s disease, but further research is required to understand how they could be used in medicine.
A pheromone trap to catch queen bees
One of the most time-consuming tasks in beekeeping is locating queen bees. Most beekeepers replace queens every one to two years to ensure that their colonies remain strong, productive and docile. The old queen must be removed before the new queen is introduced. Finding a single queen in a colony of tens of thousands of workers may take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. For commercial beekeepers running 1,000 hives, an efficient trap could save tens of thousands of dollars per year in labour costs. Beginner beekeepers would also find the requeening task much more straightforward.
This project researched the feasibility of developing a pheromone trap to attract and catch queens. This was done by investigating the attraction of queens to a number of potential attractants, including live and dead mated and virgin queens and pheromones collected from various parts of their bodies; hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts of clean and unclean brood comb, as well as fractions of these extracts; and Nasanov pheromone, queen pheromone and a moth pheromone.
If anything, queens were repelled by the presence of queens or extracts from queens. However, queens were attracted to hexane extracts of brood comb. We sought to chemically characterise the constituents of this extract and identify the causative agent(s). The chemical profiles of hexane extracts of empty comb, unclean comb and clean comb were very similar. No individual fraction of these extracts elicited a consistent response from queens; it may be that multiple fractions in combination are required for queen attraction. We successfully created a mechanical trap that queens can enter but not exit. Based on these results, we have had discussions with potential industry partners to further develop this project.
