We are pleased to share the poster presented by our colleague Florine Ory presented at ABIM in 2023.
Title: “Revision and adaptation of existing pollinator guidelines for testing of microbial biopesticides”
Currently, there is a growing interest in developing biopesticides as sustainable tools in the global plant protection market. Biopesticides are items that can control pests, but are derived from natural materials. Microbial biopesticides are one type, which are specific microorganisms that have modes of action including infectivity and pathogenicity (ability to cause disease), rather than toxicity alone, which contrasts to chemicals pesticides. However, their potential ecotoxicological risk still needs to be assessed, taking into account their mode of action and their lifecycle. Also, any dose verification techniques used need to be microbiology-based, rather than via analytical chemistry. Here, we present our methodological developments for testing microbial biopesticides on honey bees, which have been adapted from established terrestrial ecotoxicology guidelines. We first investigated bee survival with different foods, when prolonging the chronic adult honey bee test from 10 to 30 days. Secondly, we adapted the honey bee larvae test to investigate pathogenicity evaluation of a microbial pesticide through feeding. Thirdly, the bacterial quantification in the inoculated food, using the colony-forming unit (CFU) counting, was investigated.
