Volume 6
Issue 2
Veterinary Medicine
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume6/issue2/veterinary/abs-05.html
STUDIES ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF STRAINS ASCOSPHAERA APIS ISOLATED FROM CHALKBROOD DISEASE OF THE HONEY BEES
Paweł Chorbiński, Krzysztof Rypuła
ABSTRACT
The Ascosphaera genus (Plectomycetes: Ascosphaeraceae) is found in the environment solely in populations of social and solitary bees. A typical feature of the genus Ascosphaera is production of spherical spore cysts abundant in ascospores forming spore balls. The species vary in the size of spore cysts, as well as in the shape and size of ascospores. The aim of this study was to determine morphological properties of strains A. apis isolated from field cases of chalkbrood diseased honeybees. The study material was inoculated onto Sabouarda’s medium, underwent macroscopical and microscopical identification and was examined for morphological details by cryo-electron microscopy with a scanning electron microscope. The examination results and measurements obtained with the scanning microscope enable us to confirm the results received by means of commonly applied diagnostic techniques to determine whether the strains under study belong to the genus Ascosphaera a
Key words: Ascosphaera apis, honey bee, brood cells, scanning electron microscope..