Descrizione del progetto
Salvare le api grazie al calore adeguato
L’acaro Varroa è uno dei parassiti più dannosi per le api mellifere di tutto il mondo, responsabile fino al 30 % della loro mortalità. Poiché i trattamenti chimici convenzionali non rappresentano un pericolo minore per le api, è necessario trovare un’alternativa sostenibile e sicura dal punto di vista ambientale per eliminare la varroa, ma le tecniche esistenti sono ancora lontane dall’offrire scelte sufficientemente efficaci. Il progetto VATOREX, finanziato dall’UE, fornirà un cambiamento rivoluzionario grazie a una soluzione di trattamento della varroa basata sulle diverse tolleranze termiche delle api e dei parassiti. Grazie alla tecnologia avanzata, il sistema Vatorex consente una lotta facile, sicura, priva di pesticidi, ecologica e più efficiente per salvare le popolazioni di api dall’acaro Varroa, mantenendo bassi i costi sanitari e l’impatto per gli apicoltori.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoBando secondario
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
Meccanismo di finanziamento
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinatore
8542 Wiesendangen
Svizzera
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