Honey vs. Mite-A Trade-Off Strategy by Applying Summer Brood Interruption for Control in the Mediterranean Region.

In this study, we investigated the effect of queen caging on honey bee colonies' post-treatment development and the optimal timing of method application on honey production during the main summer nectar flow. We conducted the study in nine apiaries (N = 9) across six Mediterranean countries, with a total of 178 colonies. The colonies were divided into three test groups: QC1, QC2, and C.

Synthesis and Herbicidal Activity Against Buffelgrass () of (±)-3-deoxyradicinin.

A novel synthetic strategy for obtainment of (±)-3-deoxyradicinin () is reported. This synthetic methodology is more efficient than those previously reported in the literature and also shows higher versatility towards the introduction of different side-chains at both C-7 and C-2. The obtained compound (±)- shows phytotoxicity against the grass-weed buffelgrass comparable to that of the natural phytotoxin radicinin ().

-Costic acid, a plant sesquiterpene with acaricidal activity against parasitizing the honey bee.

The organic extract of the aerial parts of , a perennial native plant of the Mediterranean basin, showed a significant acaricidal activity against , the parasite mite of , commonly called honey bee. Among the metabolites isolated from the organic extract of this Asteraceae, α-costic acid showed to be one of the compounds responsible for the toxic activity exhibited by the crude plant extract on this parasite mite species. In addition to the toxic effect a clear acaricidal response has been recorded when the parasitic mite was exposed to 1 mg/mL concentration of α-costic acid while no effects have been showed on honey bees using the same compound at the same concentration.

Phytotoxic Activity and Structure-Activity Relationships of Radicinin Derivatives against the Invasive Weed Buffelgrass ().

Radicinin (), is a fungal dihydropyranopyran-4,5-dione isolated together with some analogues, namely 3--radicinin, radicinol, 3--radicinol, and cochliotoxin (-), from the culture filtrates of the fungus , a foliar pathogen of buffelgrass (), an invasive weed in North America. Among the different metabolites showed target-specific activity against the host plant and no toxicity on zebrafish embryos, promoting its potential use to develop a natural bioherbicide formulation to manage buffelgrass. These data and the peculiar structural feature of suggested to carry out a structure-activity relationship study, preparing some key hemisynthetic derivatives and to test their phytotoxicity.

Radicinin, a Fungal Phytotoxin as a Target-Specific Bioherbicide for Invasive Buffelgrass () Control.

The fungal pathogens and have recently been isolated from diseased leaves of buffelgrass () in its North American range, and their ability to produce phytotoxic metabolites that could potentially be used as natural herbicides against this invasive weed was investigated. Fourteen secondary metabolites obtained from in vitro cultures of these two pathogens were tested by leaf puncture assay on the host plant at different concentrations. Radicinin and (10, 11)--pyriculol proved to be the most promising compounds.