The use of antibiotics is not permitted in Switzerland; moreover, no other medication exists to combat European foul brood. Hives with symptoms must therefore be destroyed in order to limit the outbreak, and the contaminated material must be sanitised. Since prevention is the best cure, early detection is desirable. Numerous studies have been undertaken and documents have been created at the Swiss Bee Research Centre and elsewhere to draw the attention of beekeepers to these problems and inform them about the causes and the control measures to be implemented.
Connolly J., Sebastià M.-T., Kirwan L., Finn J. A., Llurba R., Suter M., Collins R. P., Porqueddu C., Helgadóttir A., Baadshaug O.H., Bélanger G., Black A., Brophy C., Čop J., Dalmannsdóttir S., Delgado I., Elgersma A., Fothergill M., Frankow-Lindberg B.E., Ghesquiere A., Goliński P., Grieu P., Gustavsson A.M., Höglind M., Huguenin-Elie O., Jørgensen M., Kadziuliene Z., Lunnan T., Nykanen-Kurki P., Ribas A., Taube F., Thumm U., De Vliegher A., Lüscher A.
Plant diversity greatly enhances weed suppression in intensively managed grasslands.
In: Sustainable meat and milk production from grasslands. June, Publ. European Grassland Federation, Wageningen Academic Publishers. 2018, 142-145.
Weed suppression was investigated in a field experiment across 31 international sites. The study included 15 plant communities at each site, based on two grasses and two legumes, each sown in monoculture and 11 four-species mixtures varying in the relative proportions of the four species. At each site, one grass and one legume species was selected as fast establishing and the other two species were selected for persistence. Average weed biomass in mixtures over the whole experiment was 52% less (95% confidence interval, 30 to 75%) than in the most suppressive monoculture (transgressive suppression). Transgressive suppression of weed biomass persisted over each year for each mixture. Weed biomass was consistently low and relatively similar across all mixtures and years. Average sown species biomass was greater in all mixtures than in any monoculture. The suppressive effect of sown forage species on weeds in mixtures was achieved without any herbicide use. At each site, weed biomass for almost every mixture was lower than the average across the four monocultures. The average proportion of weed biomass in mixtures was less than in the most suppressive monoculture in two thirds of sites. Mixtures outyielded monocultures, and mixture yield comprised far lower weed biomass.
