OLFACTORY REPELLENCY OF HERBICIDES TO FORAGING HONEY BEES (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

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Abstract
Foraging honey bees were offered various sucrose–herbicide solutions. Despite the visual attractiveness of the feeding dishes to foragers, six of seven herbicides significantly reduced the incidence of feeding and were judged to be olfactory and gustatory repellents. The most repellent herbicide was 2,4,5-T, which totally inhibited feeding at concentrations as tow as 1000 ppm. The next most repellent was 2,4-DB, followed by linuron, picloram, 2,4-D, and monuron. Paraquat was the only herbicide that did not exhibit marked repellency at concentrations up to 4000 ppm.The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the impact of herbicide applications on honey bee foraging behaviour, brood development, pollination, and honey production.

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