# VSH testing?



## M.Shelnutt (Apr 24, 2021)

I know there is a lot of effort going into tests for an effective mite treatment, but has any tests been done evaluating the VSH claims by many strains?

I can find videos on YouTube where someone tests products side byside like vacuum cleaners or motor oil- but none comparing different strains of bees with their mite handling…


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it is the only 'semi-scientific' study I am aware of comparing the mite build-up and resulting winter survival of various bee lines, courtesy of Dr. Seeley:









Treatment-Free Bungling 2018 - ?


Just so it happened, I scored 100 pounds of fondant for free (well, for the cost of an hour of apple tree pruning consultation). Sounds like a good trade to me... I'll have to figure out what I can swap with you to consult me on my orchard- the last two years have been an exercise in finding...




www.beesource.com


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

And another that will be interesting to interpret once the results are published courtesy of MSL:









A new look at wild survival and resistance inharance...


https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.594263/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Ecology_and_Evolution&id=594263 read for your self as I am taking a different spin on...




www.beesource.com


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## John Davis (Apr 29, 2014)

Look up John Harbo. The VSH testing procedures are pretty well spelled out and available through his website as well as others..
It it a laborious test that involves opening lots of cells and recording number of reproductive mother mites.


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## SS Auck (May 8, 2015)

I have seen guys test the hygenic behavior of their bees by freezing circles in capped brood and see which hives clean out the dead brood and which do not.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

OR, and this is a SERIOUS matter needing attention; Is the selection for "hygienic behavior" one of the biggest mistakes in apiculture history?
Should the ads in the bee journals change from, "We select for hygienic behavior" to "We select for enhanced viral transfer in honey bee hives".
AND, do we as an industry have the stones to stand up and declare, " We have made a major mistake"?
Check this out:
Pupal Cannibalism Evans et al 2021.pdf


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

SS Auck said:


> I have seen guys test the hygenic behavior of their bees by freezing circles in capped brood and see which hives clean out the dead brood and which do not.


A lot of folks confuse 'hygenic' with 'vsh'. They are not the same.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

HarryVanderpool said:


> OR, and this is a SERIOUS matter needing attention; Is the selection for "hygienic behavior" one of the biggest mistakes in apiculture history?
> Should the ads in the bee journals change from, "We select for hygienic behavior" to "We select for enhanced viral transfer in honey bee hives".
> AND, do we as an industry have the stones to stand up and declare, " We have made a major mistake"?
> Check this out:
> Pupal Cannibalism Evans et al 2021.pdf


The link doesn't load Harry. It is apparently a local link to a file on your computer.

Here is a link to an article by that name at nature



https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88649-y.pdf


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

grozzie2 said:


> The link doesn't load Harry. It is apparently a local link to a file on your computer.
> 
> Here is a link to an article by that name at nature
> 
> ...


Thank you!


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## SS Auck (May 8, 2015)

Grozzie, What does the "H" in VSH stand for? Please explain how they are not the same. Isnt the point of VSH, for nurse bees to cannibalize capped brood that is damaged by varroa? I believe the concept of killing a known amount of brood in multiple hives will give you a tool to compare.


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## M.Shelnutt (Apr 24, 2021)

I see the replies have begun to veer off the path. 
I would like to see where people are doing comparisons of various strains of bees for their effectiveness against the mite.

There are VSH Italians, VSH Pol Line, VSH Carnolian, Ankle biters, Mite Maulers, etc, etc.... But how do they compare? Are they all they are advertised to be?
Usually these strains are more expensive than regular strains, so the question is what are you getting with the money? Where are the tests? 

I know there are some papers, like Danka's paper on the Pol Line, but the data doesnt look too convincing. I am a visual person, and love to see compare and contrasts done.

Something like this, but with strains of bees:


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

From my humble perspective, some of the difficulties in testing the various mechanisms head-to-head is that they tend to be multi-modal and as yet only partially understood. As an example, the original post asked specifically about VSH but then seemed to be more generally interested in suppressed mite growth via any/all behavioral mechanisms (i.e. ankle biting and mite mauling). The following research gives in my opinion a good basic overview of many of the current mechanisms being evaluated by researchers and includes the current working definitions for them. For example:


Mite non-reproduction (MNR)Failure of a foundress mite to produce at least one adult, mated female that will enter the colony’s mite population when the developing bee emerges from the cell as an adult bee. A foundress mite will not be successful at reproduction if she does not lay any eggs (infertile), lays only one egg, produces no male offspring or begins laying her eggs too late in relation to the pupal developmentSuppressed mite reproduction (SMR)Redefined as only cases of mite non-reproduction that are regulated by traits expressed by the broodHygienic behaviour (HYG)Behavioural sequence consisting of the targeting, opening and removal of diseased, injured, parasitized, or dead brood by worker bees. This trait is usually assessed using the freeze-killed brood (FKB) or pin-killed assays_Varroa_-sensitive hygiene (VSH)Form of hygienic behaviour that specifically targets and removes brood infested by _Varroa_ mites. This trait is assessed through assays that measure the removal of _Varroa_-parasitized brood









Honey bee survival mechanisms against the parasite Varroa destructor: a systematic review of phenotypic and genomic research efforts


The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is the most significant pathological threat to the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, leading to the death of…




www.sciencedirect.com





I do hope others are able to chime-in with other studies which have studied various lines head-to-head.


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## John Davis (Apr 29, 2014)

Again I refer you all to the work of John Harbo for reference.
SMR referenced above was replaced by the usage of VSH.
Earlier work used a measure of removal of infested brood as an indication of the VSH trait expression. 
The current measurement and description of VSH as a percentage is the measured and counted number of non reproductive foundress mites expressed as a percentage of total so is the MNR definition as above.
In a normal population about 25% of the foundress mites are non reproductive.
A bee line to consider for breeding should have at least a score of 50% or better.
The hygiene can be uncapping and removal of varroa damaged pupae or other actions that interrupt the mite reproductive cycle.
The measurements are of percent of non reproductive female mites with 100% being the goal.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

John Davis said:


> SMR referenced above was replaced by the usage of VSH.


John:

Good feedback. One minor point of clarification- SMR was in-fact replaced by VSH only to be resurrected as a more general term representing lower mite population growth as a phenotype driven by factors as yet not fully understood. From the paper above:

_The SMR trait was thus renamed varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) to emphasize the regulatory behavioural mechanism that governs high mite resistance (Harris, 2007). 

Recent evidence also suggests that there may be a brood effect contributing to HYG and VSH (Wagoner et al., 2018, Wagoner et al., 2019) although such an effect has been difficult to stabilize through breeding (Villa et al., 2016). We propose here to rename the phenotypic feature of high mite non-reproduction as MNR because it may be derived from both VSH activity and an effect of bee brood (Table 1). We recommend reserving the term SMR for non-reproduction of mites that is induced solely by the brood._

In a similar paper late last year, many of the same researchers from the study above offered the following:_ 

SMR stands as a complex trait, as it can be triggered by several host and/or parasite mechanisms, influenced by a wide variety of environmental factors, and remains challenging to phenotype accurately in the field. In the present study, it was not possible to identify the specific mechanism underlying the SMR trait, and we found large uncertainty in its estimation when few cells are investigated. Nevertheless, SMR implies lower mite population growth and, thus, remains a trait of great importance for the development of selection strategies to improve the ability of honey bee colonies to fight infestation by one of the most important honey bee enemies, the mite V. destructor._









Evaluation of Suppressed Mite Reproduction (SMR) Reveals Potential for Varroa Resistance in European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.)


The mite Varroa destructor represents a great threat to honey bees and the beekeeping industry. The opportunity to select and breed honey bees that are naturally able to fight the mite stands a sustainable solution. This can be achieved by evaluation ...




www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

SS Auck said:


> Grozzie, What does the "H" in VSH stand for? Please explain how they are not the same. Isnt the point of VSH, for nurse bees to cannibalize capped brood that is damaged by varroa? I believe the concept of killing a known amount of brood in multiple hives will give you a tool to compare.


You have just proven my point. Just because a set of bees is hygenic does not mean they exhibit VSH. You ask what the H stands for. Have you given any thought to what the VS stands for ?

A freeze kill will identify hygenic bees. But to identify the 'varroa sensitive' subset of those bees takes a lot more effort.


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## SS Auck (May 8, 2015)

Do you guys think that VSH is possible? The varroa mite did not evolve with the european honey bees, they were from asia and the islands around there. Also apis mellifera (euro honey bee) has been selectively breed for so long they are basically livestock, made to make honey not to protect itself. I'm not giving up, just wondering what your thoughts are on it.


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## M.Shelnutt (Apr 24, 2021)

As it seems the more aggresive bees (Africanized, Russian, etc.) do better with the mites, we may have to learn how to deal with the less ideal temperament.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

M.Shelnutt said:


> As it seems the more aggresive bees (Africanized, Russian, etc.) do better with the mites, we may have to learn how to deal with the less ideal temperament.


Why ? It's not rocket science help the bees with regard to the mites, it's pretty strait forward.


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