Repellent Additives to Reduce Pesticide Hazards to Honey Bees: 1 Field Tests 23

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Abstract
Twelve chemicals were tested in the field to determine their ability to repel Apis mellifera L. from agricultural crops. Three of the chemicals were too phytotoxic to seed alfalfa and cotton foliage for further consideration as repellents. One chemical crystallized when sprayed on foliage and needs to have the formulation modified. Eight chemicals provided slight to moderate repellence of bees for somewhat short periods of time. One of these, decylamine, when applied to alfalfa in bloom at the rate of 1 lb in 10 gal water/A (1.12 Kg in 112 liters water/ha) provided a 69.6% average level of repellence of bees for 5.5 h. Another, Rutgers 6–12, when applied to broccoli in bloom at the rate of 1 lb in 10 gal water/A (1.12 kg in 112 liters water/ha) provided an average level of repellence of 42% for 7.8 h. These 2 merit further consideration as potential honey bee field crop repellents. Chemical structures reveal that the most promising repellents contain benzyl, phenyl, or tolyl derivatives variously substituted with short length carbon chains. Some contain amide derivatives and several possess thymol-like odors.

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