Preliminary trials on effects of lithium salts on <i>Varroa destructor</i>, honey and wax matrices

Stanimirović, Zoran; Glavinić, Uroš; Jovanović, Nemanja M.; Ristanić, Marko; Milojković‐Opsenica, Dušanka; Mutić, Jelena; Stevanović, Jevrosima

doi:10.1080/00218839.2021.1988277

Cited by 14 publications

(43 citation statements)

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“…Our findings could support extension workers, improve hive management practices and hence reduce honey bee colony losses (Steinhauer et al 2020;Kulhanek et al 2021). The type of substance, mode of application and degree to which different substances are applied also have implications concerning residues present in hive products (Wallner 1999;Mullin et al 2010;Kast et al 2020Kast et al , 2021Abd El-Wahab et al 2021;Stanimirovic et al 2021) and/or mite resistance (Trouiller 1998;Stara et al 2019;Rinkevich 2020;Jack and Ellis 2021). Such resistance has been proven for taufluvalinate (Milani 1995;Colin et al 1997;Baxter et al 1998;Johnson et al 2013;Millán-Leiva et al 2021), amitraz and flumethrin (Rodríguez-Dehaibes et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Therefore, new products with high varroacide efficacy and no side effects on bees are sought, with lithium salts being candidates that may meet these requirements (Ziegelmann et al 2018). Lithium residues that reach bee products are considered irrelevant given the amount of lithium that consumers ingest through common food products (Szklarska and Rzymski 2019;Stanimirovic et al 2021). Besides veterinary medicinal products authorized for the treatment of Varroa mite infestation (which differ between countries: Mutinelli 2016; Jack and Ellis 2021), unapproved products may be used, not to mention self-made products, off-label use, and products from the black market.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe

et al. 2022

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Beekeepers have various options to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in honey bee colonies, but no empirical data are available on the methods they apply in practice. We surveyed 28,409 beekeepers maintaining 507,641 colonies in 30 European countries concerning Varroa control methods. The set of 19 different Varroa diagnosis and control measures was taken from the annual COLOSS questionnaire on honey bee colony losses. The most frequent activities were monitoring of Varroa infestations, drone brood removal, various oxalic acid applications and formic acid applications. Correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering on principal components showed that six Varroa control options (not necessarily the most used ones) significantly contribute to defining three distinctive clusters of countries in terms of Varroa control in Europe. Cluster I (eight Western European countries) is characterized by use of amitraz strips. Cluster II comprises 15 countries from Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Central-Southern Europe. This cluster is characterized by long-term formic acid treatments. Cluster III is characterized by dominant usage of amitraz fumigation and formed by seven Eastern European countries. The median number of different treatments applied per beekeeper was lowest in cluster III. Based on estimation of colony numbers in included countries, we extrapolated the proportions of colonies treated with different methods in Europe. This suggests that circa 62% of colonies in Europe are treated with amitraz, followed by oxalic acid for the next largest percentage of colonies. We discuss possible factors determining the choice of Varroa control measures in the different clusters.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe

et al. 2022

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“…The major emphasis of this line of research is screening possible acaricide agents from elsewhere in agriculture or from prospective chemical analysis for use in varroa control, motivated by the challenges briefly discussed in section 2.4 . These efforts span both synthetic and non-synthetic sources, including simple pharmaceuticals such as lithium salts ( Kolics et al, 2021b ; Stanimirovic et al, 2021 ; Ziegelmann et al, 2018 ). Essential oil research remains of interest due to low regulatory hurdles (e.g.…”

Section: New Developments In Novel Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One arguably pertinent example of this tech-transfer problem is the lack of progress on the development of lithium salts for varroa control, which would be an attractive, cheap, organic control method, with good contemporary evidence of its effectiveness ( Kolics et al, 2021b ; Stanimirovic et al, 2021 ). However, lithium salts are a psychoactive pharmaceutical agent used under prescription in human medicine ( Lieberman and Tasman, 2006 ) making regulatory approval arguably even more important than for other typical agrochemicals, especially given the recent evidence of its apparent accumulation in honey bee products ( Kolics et al, 2021a ; Prešern et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Barriers To Uptake Of Current and Future Working Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontiers in effective control of problem parasites in beekeeping

Bartlett

2022

International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife

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“…Its quantity depends mainly on the soil’s lithium content [ 26 , 27 ]. Although lithium treatment based on the feeding method may leave traces in the honey, it appears that the lithium levels in honeys exposed to lithium treatment are below, or similar to, the trace-element levels in high-lithium honeys [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] or wax cappings [ 29 ], whereas it seems to leave brace combs and processed wax unaffected [ 28 ]. One of the main reasons for this may be that adult bees might be able to excrete the lithium in some way.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Alternative Application Methods for Anti-Varroa Lithium Chloride Treatments

Kolics

Mátyás

et al. 2022

Insects

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Varroosis is one of the most dangerous threats to the bee industry but means of its treatment are still unsatisfactory. Lithium-based anti-Varroa treatments may provide an alternative, as this trace element can be a natural component of honey and is well tolerated by adult bees. However, it can be toxic to larvae and its use in beekeeping practice is not yet well understood. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of relevant application methods of acaricides used in beekeeping practice in brood-free conditions for lithium. Vaporisation proved to be an inefficient method of lithium treatment and killed only 9.9 ± 3.3% (mean ± SD) of mites in the hive. Lithium-impregnated paper strips showed moderate efficiency by killing 55.1 ± 26.2% of mites. The most effective way of applying lithium was the trickling method; different trickling treatments decreased the abundance of mites on average by 65 to 99.7%, depending on the applied dosage and the number of treatments. Repeated trickling treatments were more effective than single treatments, and they generally provided >90% efficiency. Experiments also proved that adding sugar to the trickling solution does not influence treatment efficiency. Thus, it is suggested that repeated and sugar-free trickling treatments with moderate lithium dosage could be the most rational methodology. Since lithium is not yet legalised in beekeeping practice, comprehensive studies are also needed to uncover the amount of lithium residue in bee products, depending on the treatment parameters.

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Preliminary trials on effects of lithium salts on Varroa destructor, honey and wax matrices

Cited by 14 publications

References 77 publications

Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe

Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe

Frontiers in effective control of problem parasites in beekeeping

Comparison of Alternative Application Methods for Anti-Varroa Lithium Chloride Treatments

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