Nutritional Evaluation of Four Commercially Available Pollen Patties in Korea

Abstract

Pollen patty is one of the requirements for commercial beekeeping especially in early spring when overwintered honey bee colony begin production of brood. The quality and quantity of pollen patty substituting the natural sources of protein and carbohydrate could determine the spring colony production, but limited information is available in nutritional contents of commercial pollen patties in Korea. We analysed nutrient contents of four commercially available pollen patties and compared with recommended requirement of essential amino acids for honey bee. The results revealed that protein content of different pollen patties ranged 18.9 to 22.4%.The recovery of the protein in terms of amino acids was found more than 90%. The analytical data showed that phenylalanine was limiting while sufficient tyrosine was present. High tyrosine levels could decrease the need for dietary phenylalanine. Arginine was found another limiting amino acid and histidine was present in marginal level. Fat content of four patties ranged 0.7 to 1.3%. Overall, this study results showed that protein enforced pollen patty could serve as natural pollen alternative in early spring.