Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
Open Vet J. 2024 Feb;14(2):692-698. doi: 10.5455/OVJ.2024.v14.i2.9. Epub 2024 Feb 29.
Ecto-parasite, varroa mite, (), is the primary pest affecting the apiculture sector globally in various regions.
This study examined the toxicity of nine essential oils to L. and the acaricidal impact of those oils against .
The acaricidal effects of nine essential oils, extracted from plant materials were used. In the screening experiment, 10 mg of the active ingredients of the plant material extracts were prepared in an alcohol solution with concentrations of 5%, 10%, and 15%. For each type of plant extract, five female were transferred to a Petri dish with five worker bees incubated at 70% humidity and 33°-34° for 2 days, for each treatment four replicates were used compared to the control. Forty-eight hours following treatment, the number of dead and live mites was counted to determine the mortality rate. In the second assay experiment, the best five essential oils of the previous experiment were selected to re-assess their effectiveness on varroa mites and honeybee workers by using a concentration of 15%. Five females of were transferred to a Petri dish with 10 adult bees and treated with the solution of the selected oils. Five replicates and control treatments were taken for each sample simultaneously. Dead and live bees were counted for each replicate at 48 hours after treatment.
There were no significant differences between the concentrations used of each oil on the rate of death of mites, and its effectiveness ranged between 70.0% and 53.3% compared to the control groups. In addition, the best oil used was bitter melon, with a death rate of 80% at a concentration of 15%, while peppermint oil showed the lowest death rate of 45% at a concentration of (5%). However, all these treatments were statistically highly significant compared with the natural death rate in control (2%). In the second test, the results of the statistical analysis indicated that there were highly significant differences (P <0.0001) in the average numbers of dead varroa mites compared to the control when using a 15% concentration of five selected oils. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant difference in the honey bee workers' mortality rate between the treatment and control groups (P <0.3390), and it was relatively low for all treatments except the basil oil, where the bee mortality rate was 16% compared to the control (10%).
It is clear from this experiment that bitter melon oil can be used to control varroa mites and it can be considered safe for honey bees as well as for the environment.
体外寄生虫，瓦螨（Varroa destructor），（），是影响全球不同地区养蜂业的主要害虫。
本研究检查了九种精油对 L. 的毒性以及这些油对 的杀螨作用。
使用从植物材料中提取的九种精油进行杀螨效果测试。在筛选实验中，将植物材料提取物的 10mg 活性成分制备在 5%、10%和 15%浓度的酒精溶液中。对于每种植物提取物，将五头雌性转移到一个培养皿中，其中有五只工蜂，在 70%湿度和 33°-34°下孵育 2 天，每个处理有四个重复，与对照相比。处理后 48 小时，计数死亡和存活的螨虫数量，以确定死亡率。在第二个实验中，选择前一个实验中最好的五种精油，重新评估它们对瓦螨和蜜蜂工蜂的有效性，使用 15%的浓度。将五头雌性转移到一个培养皿中，其中有 10 只成年蜜蜂，并将选定的油溶液处理。同时为每个样品取五个重复和对照处理。处理后 48 小时，对每个重复进行死蜂和活蜂的计数。
在所使用的每种油的浓度之间，对螨虫死亡率没有显著差异，其效果与对照组相比在 70.0%至 53.3%之间。此外，使用的最佳油是苦瓜，在 15%的浓度下死亡率为 80%，而薄荷油在 5%的浓度下死亡率最低，为 45%。然而，与对照组（2%）的自然死亡率相比，所有这些处理在统计学上均高度显著。在第二次测试中，统计分析结果表明，使用五种选定油的 15%浓度时，与对照组相比，死亡的瓦螨数量有高度显著差异（P<0.0001）。另一方面，处理组和对照组之间蜜蜂死亡率没有统计学上的显著差异（P<0.3390），除罗勒油外，所有处理的死亡率相对较低，对照组的蜜蜂死亡率为 16%（10%）。
本实验清楚表明，苦瓜油可用于控制瓦螨，并且对蜜蜂以及环境都是安全的。
