EVALUATION OF SOME MITICIDES AGAINST VARROA DESTRUCTOR (VARROIDAE: ACARI) IN COLONIES OF HONEYBEE, APIS MELLIFERA L.

Efficacy of fluvalinate, formic acid, menthol and sulfur powder as miticides were studied against bee mite, varroa destructor anderson & trueman at beekeeping and hill fruit pests research station, rawalpindi, pakistan, during 2004-05 and 2005-06. fluvalinate (one strip colony^-1), formic acid 80% (10 ml colony^-1), menthol (10 gm colony^-1), and sulfur powder (10 gm colony^-1) were provided to the colonies. mites’ population was assessed before and after 24 hours and one week of the treatments. all miticides performed better against bee mite as compared to control. fluvalinate proved the best with 89% reduction of mite population after one week of the treatment during 2004-05 and 95% during 2005-06. it was followed by formic acid, menthol and sulfur with 75, 69, 55 % mite reduction during 2004-05 and 73, 65, 50 % during 2005-06 respectively.