A Comparison between the Bacterial Culture and PCR in the Identification of American Foulbrood (AFB) and European Foulbrood (EFB)

The American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB) are important bacterial diseases in honeybee caused by Paenibacillus larvae and Mellisocuccos plutonius، respectively. The aim of this study is to compare the conventional method with molecular method (PCR) in terms of identification of AFB and EFB. In the present study، 30 larves with clinical symptoms from 30 apiaries located in different cities of Lorestan province were collected. The samples were examined for the disease using conventional methods and PCR simultaneously. Two specific primers for 16S rRNA gene were used in PCR. The number of positive samples was 13. 3% in PCR but 10% in the conventional method such as bacterial culture for Paenibacillus larvae. All samples in both bacterial culture and PCR methods were negative for Mellisocuccos plutonius but in the bacterial culture، they were isolated from 6 samples of Paenibacillus alvei، an indicator of European foulbrood. According to the results، PCR is a specific method for the identification of Paenibacillus larvae، so this method can improve the diagnosis tests and be an alternative for the conventional culture methods in the diagnosis of Paenibacillus larvae. But for the Mellisocuccos plutonius، further research to improve the diagnosis tests is suggested.