Company wants to use bees to distribute pesticides

BY Pamela Carbonari EDITED BY Bruno Garattoni UPDATED 14/03/2016

If it depends on Canadian startup BVT (Bee Vectoring Technology), bees will no longer be just honey producers. Not that the food they produce isn't delicious enough. But the fact is that researchers at the University of Guelph, not canada, investigated during 20 years the behavior of bees and other pollinating insects and found that they are ideal candidates to deliver biological and chemical agents capable of containing and managing various pests and diseases caused by infections in flowers. So, distribute pesticides on plantations.

The supposed advantage of using bees is that they land directly on the flowers.. This allows you to use up to 95% Less pesticides than the traditional method (where crops are sprayed with the product). The idea of ​​the Canadian company is to use bees in sunflower crops, canola, strawberry and stone fruit, like peaches and nectarines ? cultures that suffer from the action of fungi.

This new potential of bees was discovered when the research group led by entomologist John Sutton, by pathologist Peter Kevan and agronomist Todd Mason, left a tray full of dust at the door of a beehive. when leaving it, and step on that dust, the bees ended up spreading the material through the flowers in the region.

The tests were carried out in partnership with the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture. Researchers say they care about the health of bees, and will only use pesticides that are not harmful to them – but this will have to be proven in a next round of tests..

Source: http://super.abril.com.br/ciencia/empresa-quer-usar-abelhas-para-distribuir-agrotoxico