Toxicidade de neonicotinóides sobre abelhas (Apis mellifera).

Abstract

The cultivation of melon (Cucumis melo L.) is of great importance for the Brazilian economy, especially in semiarid regions of the Northeast. Despite the favorable factors to the yield of melon other limiting factors have been highlighted as the damage caused by pests, which undertake to harvest, requiring that control measures are adopted. Among these are applications of chemical insecticides, including the neonicotinoids. Studies have shown the collateral damage of these insecticides to beneficial insects like bees, important pollinators of 90% of angiosperms, mainly to melon. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of neonicotinoids used for pest control in the melon crop to Linnaeus honeybees. Bioassays were performed in the laboratory, being taken repeated measures in time to mortality commercial products Actara 250 WG (thiamethoxam), Evidence 700 WG (imidacloprid), Mospilan (acetamiprid) and Orpheus (acetamiprid) (two formulations). The exposure of bees to the compounds was performed by spraying and ingestion of food contaminated with higher and lower doses recommended by the manufacturers. Regardless of the exposure mode, all insecticides were toxic, reducing the useful life of bees within 1, 2 and 11 days, respectively, compared with the control (distilled water + pure candy), which survived 18 days, average . The insecticide thiamethoxam in both experiments and doses, was extremely toxic; as well as Imidacloprid, the second most toxic. The Acetamiprid insecticide, in both formulations showed toxicity, but not so high as those observed with other insecticides in the study.