AI Article Synopsis
- The main threat to beekeeping is varroosis caused by mites, and existing chemical treatments may face issues like resistance.
- Lithium chloride has emerged as a potential alternative treatment, but its residue levels in honeybee products are not well understood.
- In a study, lithium concentrations in honeybees peaked at day 4 post-treatment, affecting uncapped honey but not beeswax, suggesting further research is needed on the safety of lithium in harvested honey.
Article Abstract
The biggest threat to beekeeping is varroosis caused by the mite . Chemicals available to treat this fatal disease may present problems of resistance or inconsistent efficacy. Recently, lithium chloride has appeared as a potential alternative. To date, the amount of residue lithium treatments may leave in honeybee products is poorly understood. Honeybees were fed with 25 mM lithiated sugar syrup, which was used in earlier studies. The accumulation and elimination of the lithium were monitored in bees and their products for 22 days. Lithium concentration increased in the entire body of the bees to day 4 post-treatment and then recovered rapidly to the control level. Lithium exposure was found to affect uncapped honey in the short term (<16 days), but ripe (capped) honey measured at the end of the trial remained affected. On the other hand, lithium treatment left beeswax lithium-free. Based on these data, we propose that comprehensive research on harvested honey is needed to decide on the veterinary use of lithium.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8304643 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12070579 | DOI Listing |
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