Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N37/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most two bonds to halogen, e.g. carboxylic acids
  • A01N37/02—Saturated carboxylic acids or thio analogues thereof; Derivatives thereof
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N25/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators, characterised by their forms, or by their non-active ingredients or by their methods of application, e.g. seed treatment or sequential application; Substances for reducing the noxious effect of the active ingredients to organisms other than pests
  • A01N25/18—Vapour or smoke emitting compositions with delayed or sustained release
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N37/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most two bonds to halogen, e.g. carboxylic acids
  • A01N37/02—Saturated carboxylic acids or thio analogues thereof; Derivatives thereof
  • A01N37/04—Saturated carboxylic acids or thio analogues thereof; Derivatives thereof polybasic
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N65/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing material from algae, lichens, bryophyta, multi-cellular fungi or plants, or extracts thereof
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A50/00—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE in human health protection, e.g. against extreme weather
  • Y02A50/30—Against vector-borne diseases, e.g. mosquito-borne, fly-borne, tick-borne or waterborne diseases whose impact is exacerbated by climate change

Definitions

• the present invention concerns a method for the control of acarid, lepidopteran, fungal, and bacterial infestations of honeybee colonies, and infestation controlling compositions suitable for such purpose.
• Varroasis is an infestation of European honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) with the ecto- parasitic mites belonging to the order of acaricides (Varroa jacobsoni).
• acarine infestations such as those of Acarapis woodii (Tracheal mite) and Tropilaelaps clareae; lepidopteran infestations such as those of the Greater and Lesser wax moths, Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella respectively; dipteran infestation such as that of Braula caeca; fungal infection such as that of Chalk Brood, Ascosphaera apis and bacterial infections such as those of the American and the European Foulbroods, Bacillus larvae and Melissococcus pluton respectively, can cause significant damage to honeybee colony health.
• Varroa mite has developed a resistance to the active ingredient of some of these various treatments, notably to products based on the pyrethroids flumethrin, fluvalinate and acrinathrin, but also to coumaphos, amitraz, malathion, cymiazole hydrochloride, chlorfenvinphos, bromopropylate, fenpyroximate, and related molecules.
• the present invention provides for a method for controlling acarid, lepidopteran, fungal and bacterial infestations in colonies of honeybees, which comprises the application of an effective amount of an essential oil in a slow-release formulation to the locus of honeybee colonies.
• the locus of colonies of honeybees is usually understood, but not limited, to bee-hives, or similar containers where colonies of bees build their breeding places and store food reserves, such as honeycombs.
• An essential oil is understood to comprise oils extractable from plant or the essential component thereof which sometimes happens to be solid, and organic acids.
• essential oils are monoterpenes like menthol, geraniol, thymol, myrcene, citral, limonene, carene, camphor, eugenol, or cineol (eucalyptol), natural oils like lemon oil, eucalyptus oil, or neem oil, or organic acids like formic acid, acetic acid or oxalic acid.
• monoterpenes like thymol or menthol.
• thymol is thymol.
• a slow-release formulation is meant to signify a formulation developed specifically to behave in a certain manner under defined conditions, characterised by a more regulated administration of active material over a given time-frame in comparison to raw active material
• such formulations in connection with volatile essential oils are capable of maintaining a constant vapour concentration of the essential oil in the atmosphere of an enclosed volume of a bee-habitat, i.e. a bee-hive.
• the proposed slow- release formulation is thus capable of releasing a regulated dose at a constant rate, preferably releasing a defined quantity of essential oil into a bee-hive over a chosen period of time, e.g. a period of 4-6 weeks, this period constituting at least one varroa mite reproductive cycle
• the active ingredient (essential oil or organic acid) is transported from the formulation via the vapour phase onto the target pest.
• the essential oil evaporates or sublimizes from the formulation in a regulated concentration into the atmosphere of the bee- environment (e.g the beehive) and maintains the preselected concentration for at least a 4 to 6 weeks treatment period.
• the atmosphere in the bee environment is not hermetically sealed, the various pests in said environment can be effectively controlled by the release of the essential oil form the slow-release formulation. This also applies to the pests affecting the bee larvae in the brood chambers, which by this method can be effectively protected.
• the method of control of Varroa infestation according to the present invention is both, effective against pyrethroid resistant, as well as susceptible Varroa mite strains in bee ⁇ hives.
• the above disadvantages can be avoided by the method proposed by our invention.
• the new method is not only effective against varroa, but also controls all the other honeybee disease organisms aforementioned.
• Examples of a slow-release formulation according to the present invention are gel formulations, either stand-alone or on bee-acceptable supports; impregnated materials; or polymer matrixes incorporating the above-mentioned essential oils or organic acids. Treatment of the infested bee colonies is preferably done in form of gel, or a gel strip, gel pellets, gel tablets, or even in a dispenser tray filled with any of the above forms, or any other type of slow-release dispersing system.
• a slow-release matrix formulation may presented in any type of dispensing system, for example a shallow plastic tray dispenser with a hermetically sealing lid like a plastic or aluminium seal lid.
• the slow-release formulations used in the method according to the present invention are prepared according to methods known per se to the worker in the art.
• the slow-release formulation, according to the present invention are preferably matrix-forming gels, which comprise the essential oil or organic acid in pure form or as a liquid formulation and a gel-forming amount of a thickener component and a bee- acceptable carrier material. This formulation type is suitable both for solid or liquid essential oils.
• thickener components polymers of acrylic acid are in particular suitable. Commercial products available for this purpose are: carboxypolymethylenes, carboxyvmylpolymers, or carbomers like a CARBOPOL ® (B.F.Goodrich Corp., Cleveland, Ohio). Other suitable thickener components are for instance carboxymethylcelluloses, polyvinyl acetate alcohols like a MOWIOL ® (HOECHST AG, Frankfurt, Germany), longchain ammonium salts like BENTONE* (RHEOX GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany), hydrophilic polysaccharides like RHODOPOL* (RHONE POULENC, Paris) or KELZAN” (KELCO COMP. San Diego), or cellulose derivatives like TYLOSE (HOECHST AG, Frankfurt, Germany).
• the preferred embodiment of slow-release formulations comprises the active substance (essential oil or organic acid), the thickener agent with a cross-linking agent, and water, but not requiring any additional detergent to be present.
• active substance essential oil or organic acid
• thickener agent with a cross-linking agent
• water but not requiring any additional detergent to be present.
• Typical concentrations of the thickener in the slow-release formulation are from 0.01 to 1.5 % of the total weight, of the composition, preferably 0.1 to 1.0 %, e.g. 0.3 %, 0-4 % or 0.5 %.
• the actual concentration is however easily determinable by the worker in the art, according to the desired concentration of the essential oil in the bee-environment and the size of said environment.
• the concentration of the essential oil in the overall composition is not critical, but reasonably is between 5 and 50 % of the total weight of the composition. Preferably, the concentration is between 10 % and 40 %, e.g. 20 %, 25 % or 30 %.
• the mixture ratio of the essential oil to the thickener depends mainly on the amount of thickener required to transform the essential oil or organic acid and carrier mixture into a gel. In the given ranges of components, it is between 3:1 and 5000:1 , preferably between 30:1 and 90:1 , e.g. 40:1 , 50:1 , 60:1 , or 70:1.
• the liquid or solid essential oil is added to a dispersion of the thickener like polyacrylic acid (e.g. CARBOPOL ® EZ1) in water, and then the mixture is cross-linked by adding a suitable amount of a tertiary or secondary amine, like 0.01% to 2% of triethanolamine.
• the obtained slow-release-formulation provides for releasing an effective amount of essential acid or organic acid over a defined period of treatment.
• effective amount we mean a sufficient amount of essential oil or organic acid to render at least 80 % infestation control of the parasite/pathogen without effecting significant mortality of the honeybee colony.
• concentration in the beehive can easily be determined by routine experimentation.
• the formulation comprises a regulated dose release of the active substance
• the formulation is highly effective in the control of pyrethroid-resistant as well as susceptible Varroa jacobsoni mites , parasitic on honeybees.
• the formulation is also having efficacy against tracheal mite, A. woodii; the Greater and Lesser wax moth, Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella respectively; the dipteran pest Braula caeca; fungal infections such as Chalk Brood, Ascosphaera apis, and bacterial infections such as those of the American and the European Foulbroods, Bacillus larvae and Melissococcus pluton, respectively.
• the method of the present invention is preferably and ideally applied to bee populations or the bee environment in early spring or late summer, i.e. before or after the main honey flows but may not be restricted to these periods.
• the slow-release formulation should be introduced to the interior of the beehive and left in place for a defined period of time, treatment duration being not shorter than 4 weeks and not longer than 6 weeks, at which time the formulation is to be removed from the hive
• the gel mixture is divided into 50 g portions and attributed to a shallow plastic tray dispenser
• the surface of the tray is hermetically sealed with an aluminium or plastic foil lid
• shallow aluminium trays may be filled with the gel and sealed with a plastic foil lid
• CARBOPOL ® EZ1 0.38 parts of CARBOPOL ® EZ1 are slowly added to 73.86 parts of water with stirring. 25 parts of cineol (eucalyptol) are suspended using a high speed stirred until a homogeneous suspension is achieved. To the obtained suspension, 0.76 parts of a 50% aqueous solution of triethanolamine is added for cross-linking purposes, forming a gel.
• the gel mixture is divided into 50 g portions and attributed to a shallow plastic tray dispenser.
• the surface of the tray is hermetically sealed with an aluminium or plastic foil lid.
• shallow aluminium trays may be filled with the gel and sealed with a plastic foil lid.
• the infestation of the bee colony is assessed in comparison to an untreated control beehive by counting the total number of mites killed during the treatment and divided by the same total plus the number of mites falling after a final treatment with an acancide, killing all surviving mites.
• the results are as follows:
• the slow release formulation tested above is effective against Varroa jacobsoni infestations of bee hives as compared to Control (non-treated) colonies.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Plant Pathology (AREA)
• Dentistry (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Agronomy & Crop Science (AREA)
• Pest Control & Pesticides (AREA)
• Microbiology (AREA)
• Biotechnology (AREA)
• Toxicology (AREA)
• Mycology (AREA)
• Agricultural Chemicals And Associated Chemicals (AREA)
• Catching Or Destruction (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Material From Animals Or Micro-Organisms (AREA)
• Coloring Foods And Improving Nutritive Qualities (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Plant Substances (AREA)
• Organic Low-Molecular-Weight Compounds And Preparation Thereof (AREA)

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Cited By (39)

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• 1996
  • 1996-06-13 GB GBGB9612403.7A patent/GB9612403D0/en active Pending
• 1997
  • 1997-06-12 ES ES97929177T patent/ES2150262T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-06-12 AT AT97929177T patent/ATE195843T1/de active
  • 1997-06-12 SK SK1692-98A patent/SK283054B6/sk not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1997-06-12 DE DE69702960T patent/DE69702960T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-06-12 WO PCT/EP1997/003078 patent/WO1997047193A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1997-06-12 IL IL12740997A patent/IL127409A/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1997-06-12 JP JP10501215A patent/JP2000515124A/ja active Pending
  • 1997-06-12 HU HU9903305A patent/HU224912B1/hu unknown
  • 1997-06-12 CA CA002257840A patent/CA2257840C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-06-12 EP EP97929177A patent/EP0869714B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-06-12 CZ CZ19984102A patent/CZ292432B6/cs not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1997-06-12 AU AU33382/97A patent/AU3338297A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-06-12 RU RU99100378/13A patent/RU2225727C2/ru active
  • 1997-06-12 DK DK97929177T patent/DK0869714T3/da active
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• 1999
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• 2000
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• 2001
  • 2001-01-22 US US09/765,601 patent/US6646014B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

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