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Honeybee Studies From Start to Finish
Honeybees (amongst other pollinators) are vitally important to maintaining biodiversity, contributing to our food production system and the overall health of the planet. To protect bees, a review of the guidance for the risk assessment of agrochemical products on bees was completed recently, with updated guidance published in May 2023. Charles River has experience in honeybee studies encompassing all aspects of the risk assessment from pollinators' ecotoxicology testing to higher tier field studies. We are well equipped to help design and conduct pollinator packages to support submissions, while considering the most recent EFSA bee guidance.
Ecotoxicology
Our team has decades of experience performing pollinators ecotoxicology testing for international regulatory registrations on a wide range of test items. The following relevant studies include all the OECD endpoints, with analytical support where required.
- OECD 213 - Honeybees, Acute Oral Toxicity Test (OECD 213)
- OECD 214 - Honeybees, Acute Contact Toxicity Test (OECD 214)
- OECD 245 - Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), Chronic Oral Toxicity Test (10-Day Feeding)
While pollinators ecotoxicology testing is often conducted on classical agrochemical formulations, our team of experts also has specific experience with a range of biopesticides, including bacteria, and fungal spores, yeast, and eukaryote organisms.
Metabolism
It is important to assess if an agrochemical applied to crops, or their metabolites, are passed to pollinating insects through dietary exposure since many pollinating species rely on pollen and nectar from flowering plants as a primary source of nutrition. Information from honeybee studies on agrochemical residues in pollen and nectar can be used to protect a range of honey consumers from bees through to humans. This is particularly relevant for insecticides where the agrochemical and/or any metabolites might risk pollinator populations. Charles River has developed a range of models to investigate residue transfer into pollen and subsequently the nature of residue.
Typically, a radio-labelled form of agrochemical is applied to crops in a manner simulating agricultural use, and various flower parts sampled and analyzed for metabolites. Crops such as cucurbits, oilseed rape, sunflower, and tomatoes have been used because they generate good quantities of pollen for analysis. Studies with Phacelia, a cover crop used to attract and support pollinators, are also conducted. These studies present advantages in that the number of analytes for field studies can be vastly reduced. For instance, in a case where an agrochemical formed over 20 insecticidally active plant metabolites, we demonstrated that the number of pollen analytes could be reduced to five. This valuable data allows for cost effective refinement of field study design; increasing the efficiency of the overall project and providing more appropriate data for risk assessment.
Field Studies
We also have experience conducting magnitude of pesticide residue trials in honey following the application of agrochemicals to a field crop. Field trial sites are established in representative honey production locations including Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, and more; with study designs based on SANTE/11956/2016 rev. 9 (September 14, 2018).
Trials are conducted in tunnels placed in crop fields, maximizing exposure of the bee colonies to treated plants. Colony establishment and bee husbandry is performed by an experienced apiarist to ensure colonies are well defined, in good health, and contain enough bees to produce the requisite amounts of honey for residue analysis.
Colonies are brought to the test site on the evening before application to avoid the collection of untreated nectar. Empty combs are placed in the brood body blocked by barriers in order to reflect the worst-case residue scenario, since all the honey taken afterwards will result from nectar collected from the treated plants. After application, the beehives and bee colonies remain in the tunnels until the honey is collected. Honey is inspected to ensure it is of marketable quality (i.e., representative of a commercial product). Following the collection of honey, samples are shipped to our analytical facility ready for the next step in their honeybee studies journey, the analytical phase.
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Analytical Methods and Residues
As you can imagine honey can present some sticky situations for analytical chemists. The glue-like nature and high viscosity of the matrix brings some difficult challenges for analysis. Our residue chemists have overcome these challenges with careful method development tailored for honeybee studies to the matrix and specific analytes of interest. With a wealth of experience in this area, we have the resources to support your method development, validation, and analytical support needs for studies in complex matrices such as honey and beyond.
Charles River has followed the development of the revised EFSA bee guidance document from initiation and our experts are ready to assist interpretation and discuss requirements. Our capabilities and experience with pollinators allow us to help support whole packages of work including ecotoxicology, metabolism, method development, and validation through to field studies.
Find out how we can help you in the development of your agrochemical product.