The Effects of Using Different Organic Compounds against Honey Bee Mite (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) on Colony Developments of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) and Residue Levels in Honey

Two organic compounds (thymol and oxalic acid) with three delivery methods (dust, trickled and vermiculite) were applied to 30 infested honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies to investigate the effects of treatments on colony development and to determine residues in honey. Bee population, number of mites in brood cells and brood area of groups were determined in autumn, before and after the research. It was observed that treatments did not cause damage to amount of brood, bee population and adult bee mortality. However, there was no significant difference in the level of parasitization inside cells among treatments. A significant positive correlation was found between number of mites in cells and amount of brood reduction (r = 0.38, p = 0.03). There was also, a positive correlation between number of mites inside cells and bee mortality. Conversely, a negative correlation was found between number of mites in cells and bee population (r = -0.41, p = 0.001). Residues of thymol found in honey collected from the beehives ranged from 0.021-0.288 mg kg(-1) for thymol in dust, from 0.119-0.311 mg kg(-1) for thymol solution in sugar syrup and from 0.041-0.277 mg kg(-1) for thymol solution in alcohol. The range of oxalic acid content in honey was 6.63-34.99 mg kg(-1) in oxalic acid treated groups. These results stayed under the acceptable limit of the World Health Organization.