Description du projet
Sauver les abeilles grâce à une température adéquate
Le varroa destructeur est l’un des organismes nuisibles les plus dangereux pour les abeilles dans le monde, et jusqu’à 30 % de leur mortalité lui est imputable. Les traitements chimiques classiques posent tout autant de danger pour les abeilles; il est donc indispensable de mettre au point une solution durable et respectueuse de l’environnement pour éliminer ce parasite. Cela dit, les techniques actuelles sont encore loin d’offrir des choix suffisamment efficaces. Le projet VATOREX, financé par l’UE, changera la donne grâce à sa solution de traitement du varroa qui exploite les différentes tolérances à la chaleur des abeilles et des parasites. Grâce à une technologie avancée, le système Vatorex permet de lutter facilement, en toute sécurité, sans recours aux pesticides, de manière écologique et plus efficacement contre le varroa afin de protéger les populations d’abeilles mellifères de ce parasite, sans entrainer de coûts sanitaires ou d’impacts importants pour les apiculteurs.
Objectif
Currently, honeybee mortality rates range from 5% to almost 30% depending on the country and the year, being some of the main causes the Varroa mite. This parasite is currently treated with chemicals, which are considered a necessary evil by a population of beekeepers that considers chemical treatments largely as a threat because themselves are a cause for the bees’ population decline.
In view of these problems, other alternatives have been researched for decades, being the hyperthermia the methodology with highest potential to displace the use of chemicals. However, until now the current commercial solutions based on hyperthermia principles are not an alternative to chemical products due to a lower efficiency.
Vatorex AG is a small Swiss company committed to improve the bees’ health. The new business has started off as an association in 2015 and provides beekeepers with an eco-friendly solution to protect their hives from their greatest enemy: the Varroa mite.
We have developed an eco-friendly solution to kill the Varroa mites by using a natural principle of different heat tolerances of bees and varroa. In a range between 39°C - 42°C the parasite dies while the bees survive unharmed. In contrast to other hyperthermia systems, Vatorex-System heats the brood combs directly from the inside thanks to a heating coil that acts like a floor-heating. Vatorex-System has proven to be an effective treatment directly in the beehive (95% of male mites and nymphs die at 41ºC within 2 hours of treatment). The Vatorex-System means a reduction of sanitary cost of 66% per hive and a 18% in total cost of honey production that entails a total saving impact for the approximately 600,000 European beekeepers and their 17 million of hives. Vatorex is fully aligned with the European policy initiatives in biodiversity and pollinator protection such as European long-term survival strategy or the objectives of the EU Habitat directive.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinateur
8542 Wiesendangen
Suisse
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.