Study of the respiratory lethality effect of essential oils of 4 perennial savory species on varroa mite and Iranian honey bee in an apiary.

Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman is one of the most perilous pests of honey bee colonies around the world. So, natural products such as plant essential oils are considered as a suitable replacement for chemical compounds in pest control. This study was planned to check the respiratory killing effect of essential oils of four perennial Satureja species on Varroa destructor and Apis mellifera meda in an apiary. The sensitivity of the mite to four essential oils was according to the following, S. khuzestanica Jamzad, S. rechingeri Jamzad, S. mutica and, S. bachtiarica Bunge. The calculated LC50 values for S. khuzestanica Jamzad and S. rechingeri Jamzad were 151.6 and 161.77 ppm for Varroa mite and 328.22 and 337.7 for honey bee, respectively. Qualitative analysis of essential oils showed that the major component of the oils for all species was carvacrol. Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad and S. rechingeri Jamzad had the highest amount of carvacrol with 93.5% and 88.8%, respectively. In general, the essential oil of S. khuzestanica Jamzad and S. rechingeri Jamzad had a high ability to control Varroa mites.