Bulgarian students develop bio-pesticide which does not harm honeybees

A team of school students from Rousse, the biggest Bulgarian city on the Danube river, have developed a bio-pesticide that does not harm bees and ensures the cultivation of environmentally friendly fruits and vegetables. For its development, VIKEM, a 10-grade student company from the Rousse School of Mathematics was recognised as best at the youth enterprise forum entitled “Rising Stars".

The team includes Michaela, Victoria, Elena and Victor. The idea for developing bio-pesticide occurred after they watched TV coverage about the world problem with dying bees.

37 million bees die every year and we watched TV programmes showing beekeepers holding handfuls of dead bees and being unable to deal with this problem. So we decided to think of something. Then came the Innovation Camp in Rousse, where we had the task of inventing an idea, and we decided to develop this idea, Michaela Dakova explains.

The students carried out a study exploring which pests are most common in plant growing and have developed bio-pesticide in the form of capsules.

Elena Mihaylova, student of the 10th grade of the School of Mathematics in Rousse: Our product consists of three very simple ingredients: gelatin, water and essential oils.We use the gelatin to keep the capsule inact until it is put next to the root of the plant, but we use essential oils to attract bees because of the strong smell and not kill them. This smell also acts as a repellent to the pests. Our bio-pesticide is composed only of natural ingredients, we do not pollute the soil or the food, she said.

The greatest challenge for them was the proportions of the ingredients in the bio-capsules.

Victoria Pencheva: Firstly, they were too runny, we could not even carry them to the plants. We decided to put more gelatin in order to thiken them, but then they did not dissolve. After a lot of experiments, we found the proper proportion, which is 50% gelatin, 35% essential oils and 15% water, she added.

The only boy in the students’ company - Victor Dyakov - has taken care of the implementation of high technology in the development.

I have been interested in drones since childhood and we decided to use drones to disperse these capsules in larger territories where human hands is not possible to place them on the roots. A container is placed on the drones and by means of a plastic tube, it automatically releases capsules at a certain time, i.e. every several seconds it releases 3 capsules.

Nelly Tihomirova, Senior Teacher in the Mathematics School: The team will present Bulgaria at the European Championship of Europe's Best Student Company in Belgrade in mid-July, and I hope this idea will be appreciated by the international jury, I wish them the first place, they can win it, they have the vision, they have the knowledge, they can present well and all the skills they have learned at school can find their application exactly in this activity.

The bio-pesticide is already available in the agro-pharmacies. Large agricultural producers have shown interest in it and are about to sign contracts to purchase the product and apply it.