Impact of Pesticides in Commercial Bee Farming: A review

Dharmaraj Katuwal

Abstract

The presence of honey bees in the environment has a significant impact on global food production. Honey bees pollinate 71 crops out of 100 most common crops that account for 90% of the world's food supply, which makes them efficient pollinators of crops. While searching for pollen and nectar, the bee is often unprotected from several chemical toxins such as plant protection products. These chemicals enter their body via a different route and cause lethal as well as sub-lethal effects. Farmers use pesticides on crops with no or little attention to their effect on honeybees due to which the use of pesticides is harmful to pollination service, behavior service, communication, forage resource, poisoning, and contaminated hive products. Although several studies have been put forward about pesticide toxicity to honey bees, a proper management plan is still lacking. Nevertheless, all pesticide applications should be done in a way to minimize their exposure to honey bees, to prevent the further debility of the honey bee population throughout the biosphere. The present review should focus on the impact of pesticides and the measures of reducing their impact on commercial bee farming.

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