What is MAQS™?
MAQS™ (Mite Away Quick Strip) is the third generation biopesticide produced by NOD Apiary Products to control varroa mites. NOD launched its flagship product, Mite Away formic acid pad, in the Spring of 1997. Further refinements to the product created the Mite Away II formic acid pad. In the Spring of 2010 NOD has improved its product once again with the release of the Mite Away Quick Strip™.
MAQS™ is a Biopesticide. The thick pad used with Mite Away II has been replaced. The core of the MAQS™ is a plant-based gel which contains the formic acid. The strip is thinner than the height of a bee so it fits in the bee-space between hive parts making it much easier to apply.
Why Formic Acid?
Formic acid is a very common acid in the environment, part of many foods and drinks, such as coffee. As well formic acid is one of Nature’s defense chemicals, found in plants (nettles) and ant venom. Formic acid is NOD’s active ingredient of choice as it is a component of honey, not an impurity, so the concern is not residues but levels. NOD monitored the levels of formic acid in the honey before, during, and post treatment. Levels remained within what occurs naturally in honey.
MAQS™ is not seen as posing any risk to the environment or causing food contamination.
Target within a Target: The male varroa.
Males live only within the capped brood cell. They do not develop a hard outer shell so they are more susceptible to the formic acid vapours. With the MAQS formulation enough formic acid is able to penetrate the brood cell cappings to cause varroa death, yet leaves the pupating larva unharmed. An element of the treatment is the bee’s natural ventilation response when MAQS is applied - air movement created by the bees drives the vapours into the cells.
Varroa Sex: going for Sterility:
Varroa reproduction takes place in the capped brood cell, where the baby honeybee is pupating. For worker bees, the cells are capped for 12 days, for drones, the cells are capped for 14 days. The female varroa mite goes into the cell just before the workers cap it over. She lays her first egg 60-72 hours after the cell is capped (2.5 days at the earliest) and it is a male. The first female egg is laid 30 hours after that (3.75+ days after capping). It takes 5-6 days for the female to become sexually mature (9+ days after the cell is capped). The male produces sperm packets, which he takes into his mouth and places in the vagina of the most recently sexually mature female. Multiple matings are required over 30 hours to ensure full fertility (10 + days after the cell is sealed). The varroa from the first female egg laid has a very high probability of successfully mating; the second has a very low mating success rate in worker brood, high success rate in drone brood.
If the male varroa is killed at any time within 10 to 11 days of the cell being capped over, even if the female sisters survive they will not be fertilized, so no female offspring.
Mite Away Quick Strip™ Development and Results:
Gel formulations were developed in the lab at NOD Apiary Products. The target was to have an effective rate of
vapour release spanning three days. The colony’s drive for homeostasis (control of Temperature and Relative Humidity) is a factor in the product’s effectiveness. After
achieving success in incubator trials NOD took action to have trials conducted in the field. Trials were conducted in Hawaii, Florida, Texas, France and Ontario in 2009.
MAQS performance far exceeded expectations!
In the field trials NOD’s formulation achieved almost 100% kill of the varroa males in both drone and worker cells and over 95% kill of the phoretic mites. As well, we achieved excellent efficacy killing female varroa under the cap; 65 to 80% in drone brood, over 95% in worker brood.
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