Document Type : Research Articles
Authors
Animal Science Research Department, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Sanandaj, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Many flowering plants rely on honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) for pollination. Any human or natural factor that threatens the survival of a honey bee colony can have a major impact on plant production. Various threats and factors affect honey bee colonies and beekeeping success, including genotype, internal hive factors (such as the queen, bee pests and diseases), and external hive factors (such as hive type, weather conditions, temperature, humidity, etc.). One of the factors that has a great impact on the success of beekeeping and increasing the performance of honey bee colonies is the type of hive. Open-bottom hives have been used in European countries including Germany for decades, but the use of open-bottom hives in Iran is new. There is not much information available to beekeepers about the use of open-bottom hives in Iran. For this reason, beekeepers do not routinely use these hives. The limited number of beekeepers who use these hives are always concerned about hive losses, especially during the cold seasons. Few studies have been conducted in Iran on the type of hive, especially open-bottom and closed-bottom wooden Langstroth hives, hives made of different materials, and the effect of hive type on the performance of honeybee colonies. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the performance of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) housed in open-bottom and closed-bottom Langstroth wooden hives in the climatic conditions of Kurdistan province, Iran during 2019-2021.
Material and Methods: The present study was conducted in a completely randomized design with two treatments (the first treatment was open-bottomed Langstroth wooden hives, and the second treatment was closed-bottomed Langstroth wooden hives) and seven replications. In May 2019, a colony with a modified Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera meda) queen was purchased from the Animal Science Research Institute of Iran, and 20 sister queens were raised from this hive in the climatic conditions of Sanandaj county, Kurdistan province. At the same time, seven open-bottomed Langstroth wooden colonies and seven closed-bottomed Langstroth wooden colonies were prepared for the introduction of reared queens. Four frames of bees (preferably frames containing larvae and pupae) were transferred from the supporting colonies into open and closed-bottom hives for the implementation of the project four days before the birth of virgin queens. Then, the hives were placed one meter apart inside the Gerizeh Research Station of the Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center. One day before the queens were born, queen cells were removed from the studied hives, and then virgin queens were simultaneously introduced into open-bottom and closed-bottom hives. After 10 days and observing egg laying to ensure successful mating of the queens, the hives were simultaneously homogenized in terms of population (adults and brood) according to the instructions of Delaplane et al. (2013). The colonies were maintained in the pastures of the Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center until the following year, and then the studied traits were measured. In the present study, honey production, pollen collection, brood population, adult population, overwintering ability, and Varroa mite infestation traits were investigated in the studied colonies. In the present study, temperature and humidity inside the colonies were also measured during the project implementation.
Results and Discussion: The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of treatment on the studied traits was significant (p<0.01) in the present study. The results of comparing the means based on Tukey's method at a probability level of 1% showed that the highest mean of honey production, pollen collection, overwintering performance, brood population, and adult population were related to open-bottomed Langstroth wooden hives, and the lowest of these traits were related to closed-bottomed Langstroth wooden hives. Also, the highest average Varroa mite infestation with an average of 165 mites was associated with closed-bottom Langstroth wooden hives, and the lowest with an average of 105 mites was associated with open-bottom Langstroth wooden hives.
Conclusion: Our findings show that the open-bottomed Langstroth wooden hives performed better than closed-bottomed Langstroth wooden colonies in terms of the traits studied in the present study. Therefore, considering the significant superiority of all studied traits in open-bottom Langstroth wooden hives, the use of open-bottom Langstroth wooden hives can be recommended to improve the functional traits of colonies and increase the productivity of apiaries in the climatic conditions of Kurdistan province and other neighboring provinces with similar climatic conditions.
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