Thymol

In the 1990s, the Bee Research Centre took part in a screening programme testing the potential effectiveness of over 100 essential oils and essential oil components against the varroa mite. Although sage, hyssop and thyme oils proved interesting, only thymol has been used in acaricide products. Thymol treatments require little effort, and there are a variety of preparations on the market. The advantages and drawbacks of thymol use are listed in the articles "Apilife VAR: A new varroacide with thymol as the main ingredient" and "THYMOVAR for Varroa control".

Use of essential oils for the control of Varroa jacobsoni (Oud.) in honey bee colonies (PDF, 1 MB, 20.01.2017)
A. Imdorf, S. Bogdanov, R. Ibáñez Ochoa, N. W. Calderone (1999)

Pathway mapping of exhaled volatile organic compounds associated with blood and ruminal fluid metabolites to describe the nutritional and metabolic status of lactating dairy cows.

Institutional Repository Agroscope

Eichinger J., Reiche A.-M., Fuchsmann P., Eggerschwiler L., Münger A., Huber K., Dohme-Meier F.

Pathway mapping of exhaled volatile organic compounds associated with blood and ruminal fluid metabolites to describe the nutritional and metabolic status of lactating dairy cows.

Journal of Dairy Science, 108, (3), 2025, 2947-2963.

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ISSN Print: 0022-0302
ISSN Online: 1525-3198
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25390
Publication-ID (Web Code): 59005 Sending by e-mail

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Apilife VAR: A new varroacide with thymol as the main ingredient (PDF, 103 kB, 20.01.2017)
A. Imdorf, S. Bogdanov, V. Kilchenmann, C. Maquelin (1994)

"THYMOVAR" for Varroa control (PDF, 75 kB, 27.01.2017)
F. Bollhalder (1998)

Although the use of thymol leads to residues in the wax and honey, these are negligible from a toxicological viewpoint. Since about 2008 the use of thymol-based products has been declining in Switzerland, and beekeepers making use of these products have tended to experience greater winter losses than those using e.g. formic acid.

Thymol residues in wax and honey after Apilife VAR treatment (PDF, 757 kB, 14.09.2016)
S. Bogdanov, A. Imdorf, V. Kilchenmann (1998)

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Thymol

Pathway mapping of exhaled volatile organic compounds associated with blood and ruminal fluid metabolites to describe the nutritional and metabolic status of lactating dairy cows.