OECD 75, GUIDANCE DOCUMENT ON THE HONEY BEE (APIS MELLIFERA L.) BROOD TEST UNDER SEMI-FIELD CONDITIONS defines a procedure for detailed brood assessment (DBA), which includes the determination of brood termination rate (BTR). BTR is derived by tracking the developmental progress of individual eggs on a specified hive frame to verify the outcome of the transitions from egg to pupation and successful emergence from the comb cell. Experience has demonstrated that BTR calculations in control honey bee colonies across many Tier II semi-field tunnel studies vary substantially. This is of concern because high BTR in the control hives can render the Tier II study unacceptable for regulatory determinations in the product registration process. The causes of inconsistent BTR among studies are often related to uncontrollable environmental conditions in the test tunnels and/or in the hives, flowering crop health or phenology, bee handling and brood monitoring procedural details. This presentation will define the BTR procedure, outline our experiences with variability in BTR among studies, and define factors that influence this parameter.

Complications associated with establishing reliable brood termination rates in tier II honey bee tunnel studies

254th National Meeting (2017)

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