Influence of Spring and Autumn Climatic Conditions on Brood Nest Temperature and Humidity in Different Honey Bee Strains

• Waad .H. Al-Obaydi

  Author

The study was conducted during the autumn and spring seasons of 2022 in Anbar Governorate / Hit District. The results of the study on the effect of fluctuations in temperature and humidity between day and night hours during the study seasons on different honey bee strains, and their varying ability to maintain the temperature and humidity of the brood area, showed that bee colonies were able to maintain temperatures suitable for brood growth and development despite the fluctuations occurring in the surrounding environment. The results did not show significant differences between the strains at most times of the study. A major drop in temperature occurred in mid-March at 6:00 a.m., when the temperature of the control treatment, representing the external ambient temperature of the apiary, reached 5.4 °C, while the study treatments ranged — with no significant difference between them — between 34.15 – 35.45 °C for treatments C1 and C2, respectively. Meanwhile, treatment C4 gave the best humidity control, reaching 60.67%, compared with the control treatment of 71%, with a significant difference from treatments C1 and C3, which gave (90.5 and 87.5)%, respectively. In autumn, the strains did not show significant differences among themselves in controlling temperature and humidity, despite a large difference in temperatures compared with the control treatment. The results showed that the temperatures recorded for the treatments ranged between 34.1 and 35.2 °C, while the control treatment recorded only 7.3 °C during November.

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