Ensayo a campo de la eficacia de acaricidas comerciales para el control de Varroa destructor (Acari: varroidae)

Varroosis is caused by Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman, and is one of the major parasite diseases of Apis mellifera L. The objective of this work was to evaluate acaricide efficacy of three commercial miticides in Olavarría (Buenos Aires, Argentina). A randomized complete design with four treatments and five repetitions was used in a production apiary: 1) Cumavar®, 2) Amivar®, 3) Wang´s Manpu®, and 4) Control (no miticides). At the end of each treatment, a shock treatment was applied using two different active substances than the principal treatment. The mite infection was tested before and after treatment. Dead mites were weekly recorded to calculate the efficacy percentage (E) and the corrected efficacy (Ea) by Abbott�s formula. The evaluated miticides resulted equally effective to control V. destructor when they were compared to the control treatment. Cumavar® had higher E and Ea (99,5% and 98,9%, respectively) and these were not statistically different (p<0,05) than E from Amivar® (89,2% and 87%, respectively). Wang�s Manpu® showed an average acaricide efficacy of 78% that was not significantly different (p<0.05) than Cumavar®. However, the Ea of Wang's Manpu® (74,7%) was significantly different than Cumavar®'s Ea. The dumping observed at 14 days from the beginning of the experiment was higher than 90% for Cumavar®. The dumping with Amivar® and Wang's Manpu® was 70%. The results showed the importance of the regional evaluation of commercial miticides to account for their site specific interactions and detect possible generation of resistant mite populations.La varroosis, causada por Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman, es una de las principales parasitosis de Apis mellifera L. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar a campo la eficacia del control otoñal con acaricidas comerciales en el partido de Olavarría (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Se utilizó un diseño completamente aleatorizado con cuatro tratamientos y cinco repeticiones en un apiario en producción: 1- Cumavar®, 2- Amivar®, 3- Wang´s Manpu®, y 4- Testigo. Al final del tratamiento se realizó un tratamiento de �choque� con los dos principios activos diferentes al del tratamiento principal. Se monitoreó la infección de ácaros pre y postratamiento; semanalmente se contaron los ácaros caídos para calcular la eficacia de control porcentual (E) y ajustada (Ea) por la fórmula de Abbott. Los acaricidas evaluados resultaron igualmente eficaces en controlar el ácaro V. destructor cuando fueron comparados al tratamiento testigo. Cumavar® tuvo mayor E y Ea (99,5% y 98,9%, respectivamente), las cuales no difirieron (p<0,05) de las obtenidas con Amivar® (89,2% y 87%, respectivamente). Con Wang�s Manpu® se obtuvo una E de 78% y no difirió estadísticamente (p<0,05) de la E de los otros acaricidas. Sin embargo, la Ea de Wang�s Manpu® (74,7%) fue significativamente (p