Abstract
Bee pollen loads generally have a homogeneous and monospecific pollen content and assume a typical form and color, due to the typical bee foraging habits, thus having a typical composition related to the botanical origin. The present study aims to characterize bee pollen loads belonging to different botanical species using morphological, spectroscopic and color properties and to find relationships between these variables. IR spectra analysis allowed to have a reliable picture of the components present in the different samples; color and granulometry permits a visual identification of pollen load belonging to different species. Multivariate analysis enabled differentiation among the botanical origin of most of the bee pollen samples, grouping them according to the family and the genus and confirming the possibility to use IR and color measurements for the evaluative analysis and classification of bee pollen samples, to promote the consumption of this bee product as functional food.
Highlights
Bee pollen is one of the main protein sources of the hive and is collected and processed by worker bees that form loads with a homogeneous and monospecific pollen content and with a typical form and color: usually bees inspect in a short period an area around the beehive where a single flowering is prevalent [1]
Investigated the floral origin of bee pollens using a sequence of chemometric procedures (DA, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), etc.) applied on parameters obtained from FTIR spectra to confirm the floral origin of rape pollen; Svecniak et al in 2015 [20] explored the possible clustering of unifloral honeys belonging to different pollens using principal component analysis; in addition Bleha et al in 2019 [17] characterized six unifloral bee pollens of various botanical origins by morphometry, SEM, CIE L*a*b* color parameters and FTIR spectroscopy
In the literature there are no reports on the use of FTIR data together with those of color and granulometry to identify the botanical origin of bee pollen loads
Summary
Bee pollen is one of the main protein sources of the hive and is collected and processed by worker bees that form loads with a homogeneous and monospecific pollen content and with a typical form and color: usually bees inspect in a short period an area around the beehive where a single flowering is prevalent [1]. The characterization of collected bee pollen can be useful to individuate species of flora preferentially explored by bees and to extend knowledge for the apiculture development [2]. Limited studies have been carried out on the physicochemical properties of the Italian bee pollen or, even more importantly, on bee pollen of different botanical origins [3,7,8]. Several studies have analyzed the nutraceutical properties of pollen showing its beneficial effects to human health associated to its antioxidants and polyphenolic content [9] and correlated to the botanical species [8]
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