author(s)
Aruna R, MR Srinivasan and R Selvarajan

abstract
Honey bees are one of the most important beneficial insects having role in the crop improvement. It is affected by various calamities like pest and pathogens. The sacbrood virus (AcSBV) is a serious disease infecting A. cerana indica causing colony loss throughout the nation and south India in particular. Experiment was conducted on the efficacy of plant products showed that provision of 2 g of Phyllanthus niruri L. extract in 250ml sugar solution combined with modified shook swarm method recorded the lowest number of infected larvae per thousand brood cells after third round of treatment at 4 days interval and prevented absconding of colonies. This treatment was followed by treatments with extracts of Ficus religiosa L., Carica papaya L. and Azadirachta indica L. With the supplementary sugar feeding, there was an increase in the adult population in the honey bee colonies that recovered from the disease. Overall, it could be concluded that, honey bee colonies fed with 2g of P. niruri in 250ml sugar solution combined with modified shook swarm method was effective for both the recovery of disease and increase in brood rearing and adult population.