A new method to assess the acute toxicity toward honeybees of the abrasion particles generated from seeds coated with insecticides

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 2 LD₅₀ values (toward honeybee, contact) of seed-coating particles produced from corn seeds coated with insecticides and computed using the probit regression model

Seed-coating insecticide	Active principle	RH^a (%)	n^c	LD₅₀ (ng/bee)	CI^d (95%)	Slope ± SE
Poncho^®	Clothianidin	40–60	162	451	341–654	2.06 ± 0.31
Poncho^®	Clothianidin	> 90	96	113	71–149	2.91 ± 0.71
Mesurol^®	Methiocarb	40–60	126	693	537–873	3.49 ± 0.69
Mesurol^®	Methiocarb	> 90	91	421	357–491	7.3 ± 1.6
Sonido^®	Thiacloprid	–^b	186	16.9·10³	(10.5–30.9)·10³	1.03 ± 0.18

Air humidity, after exposure, affects the acute toxicity of powders containing clothianidin and methiocarb
^aAir relative humidity
^bNo differences were observed at different humidity levels
^cTotal number of insects tested
^dConfidence intervals for LD₅₀