In Vitro Research on Antimicrobial Activity of Native Anatolian Honey Bee Products against Paenibacillus larvae Strains

Worldwide, one of the most damaging diseases in beekeeping is American Foulbrood (AFB). The causative agent of the disease is Paenibacillus larvae, which can remain in spore form in the environment for decades and does not lose its virulence. In the management of this disease, it is inevitable to find an alternative method to the use of antibiotics and burning the hives. In this study, after determining the Total Phenolic (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Contents (TFC) of seven different Anatolian honey bee products (bee venom, bee bread, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, queen bee larvae, drone brood larvae), in vitro antimicrobial activities of these products against two different P. larvae strains were tested. As a result of Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 colorimetric methods, there were significant differences between the samples, and the highest content values were obtained from the propolis samples. The antimicrobial activity results showed that, P. larvae strains were susceptible to all bee products, except queen bee larvae and drone brood larvae. The most significant inhibition was obtained from Anatolian bee venom with the lowest MIC dose 6.25 mu g mL(-1), Bacterial strains showed susceptibility to Anatolian beebread with an effective dose of 7.81 mu g mL(-1) following bee venom. This study is an important first step in identifying new active compounds for the use of in-hive natural products in the development of new preventive treatments against AFB disease, alternative to conventional antibiotic treatments.