Abstract
ABSTRACT Bee pollen results from the mixture of pollen and floral nectar with the salivary substances of bees and has increasingly been used as a food with therapeutic properties. In this study, 30 samples of bee pollen from Apis mellifera apiaries in three mesoregions of Alagoas (Brazil) - Mata Atlântica, South Coast and Caatinga, were collected during the dry season of 2008/09 and analysed. Mata Atlântica and Caatinga had good production of bee pollen. In the same season, Mata Atlântica contained a higher diversity of pollen types for feeding bees with a predominance of herbaceous pollen (63%), whereas the Caatinga samples contained monofloral pollen. Physicochemical data were analysed with the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis statistical test. The Caatinga samples were analysed to determine their contents of total phenolic compounds (25.85 ± 10.80 mg gallic acid eq/g) and flavonoids (45.62 ± 32.19 mg quercetin eq/g) and their antioxidant activity (for instance, 70.62 ± 4.50% in the DPPH test), which were possibly affected by the environmental conditions of this biome.
Highlights
Apiculture meets the requirements of sustainability in the agriculture sector and is one of the few activities in the northeast region of Brazil that represents a new dynamic for income management, since the biome and tropical climate in this area provides food and development conditions for bees throughout the year (Alves; Santos, 2014).One of the products of apiculture is the staple food for developing larvae, bee pollen, and the human consumption of natural functional/therapeutic products has stimulated its production (Mohdaly et al, 2015; Sattler et al, 2015)
In the Caatinga (“C”) mesoregion, which is characterized by a scarcity of rainfall and flowering, the bee pollen collection was almost negligible in terms of productivity (0.004 kg in November and 0.008 kg in January)
This study showed that Mata Atlântica (“MA”) and South Coast (“SC”) were the most promising mesoregions for bee pollen production in the dry season
Summary
Apiculture meets the requirements of sustainability in the agriculture sector and is one of the few activities in the northeast region of Brazil that represents a new dynamic for income management, since the biome and tropical climate in this area provides food and development conditions for bees throughout the year (Alves; Santos, 2014).One of the products of apiculture is the staple food for developing larvae, bee pollen, and the human consumption of natural functional/therapeutic products has stimulated its production (Mohdaly et al, 2015; Sattler et al, 2015). Apiculture meets the requirements of sustainability in the agriculture sector and is one of the few activities in the northeast region of Brazil that represents a new dynamic for income management, since the biome and tropical climate in this area provides food and development conditions for bees throughout the year (Alves; Santos, 2014). The promising results concerning the antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticariogenic, antibacterial, fungicidal, hepatoprotective, anti-atherosclerotic and immune enhancing activities require long-term clinical studies (Anjos et al, 2017; Almaráz-Abarca et al, 2007; Almeida et al, 2017; Bonvehí; Torrentó; Lorente, 2001; KomosinskaVassev et al, 2015). Even bee pollen from the same plant species harvested in distinct areas will contain differences in their chemical quality (Denisow; Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016), and extensive research is required before bee pollen can be used in therapy, it can unequivocally be recommended as a valuable dietary supplement. Generic pollen composition data were previously considered sufficient, but the usefulness of specific data is increasingly being acknowledged since several studies indicate appreciable differences among the compositions of bee pollen from variable regions
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