Toxicity of botanical extracts and their main constituents on the bees Partamona helleri and Apis mellifera.

Africanized and wild bees are sensitive to synthetic insecticides, but may not be sensitive to botanical extracts. In this work, we evaluated the toxicity of botanical extracts with homemade preparations used in agroecological crops and their constituents on the bees Apis mellifera and Partamona helleri. Toxicity bioassays of adult bees were done by means of oral exposure and ingestion, using the insecticide imidacloprid as a positive control. Dietary consumption, respiration rate and bee flight were evaluated as sublethal parameters. Although some extracts were toxic to bees, survival was always higher compared to the results obtained with the imidacloprid, which was lethal to 100% of bees. In dietary consumption, P. helleri consumed less (5 mg/bee) in 3 h than A. mellifera (11 mg/bee), and P. helleri consumed less (7 mg/bee) in 24 h than A. mellifera (22 mg/bee). There was no difference in consumption of food containing plant extracts or food containing water only. We did not detect any adverse effects of the botanical extracts on bee respiration rates or flight. The major constituent of N. tabacum is nicotine (8.4-15.1%), in A. americana it is β-caryophyllene (11.3%), and in A. colubrina, lupeol (12.2%). Imidacloprid and nicotine were more toxic to bees (LC ≤ 1.3 and LC ≤ 44.3). Botanical extracts were selective to A. mellifera and the native bee P. helleri, and therefore, have the potential for ecofriendly pest control.