Volatile constituents of different smoking materials in bee honey harvesting and detection of mean differences in calming time using completely randomized design

Beekeeping and honey production provide a wide range of economic contributions through income generation from marketing of honey and related products, and creation of non-gender-biased employment opportunities. Traditionally, honey harvesting has been accomplished by making use of naked flames to rid of or even destroy honey bees or employing smoke to suppress their aggression. However, there is limited data on the effectiveness of different smoking materials used to calm honey bees during harvesting, necessitating research into establishing effective options that maximize honey yield while preserving the bee colony. This study evaluated the adaptability of variation in time taken to calm the honey bees, <i>Apis mellifera scutellata</i>, during honey harvesting using two fungi species <i>Calvatia cyathiformis</i> and <i>Calvatia gigantean</i>, air-dried hay from <i>Chloris gayana</i> and <i>Nasiwa setaria</i>, and the bark of <i>Juniperus procera</i> (African pencil cedar) as smoking agent sources. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the volatile compounds released by the smoldering smoking materials identified naphthalene, 2-(2 octenyl)-cyclopentanone, 1,3-diethylbenzene, 2-methoxyphenol, 1,5,5-trimethyl-6-(3-methyl-buta-1dienyl)-cyclohexene, creosol, 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-phenol and cedrol as the major components of the calming smokes. Completely randomized design was used to compare the mean calming time among the smoking materials. Significant differences in mean calming time among the groups was reported. Post -ANOVA analysis using Turkey’s HSD test revealed significant differences among the smoking material types, with <i>C. cyathiformis</i> and <i>C. gigantean</i> emerging as the most effective calming agents.