Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical quality and bioactive compounds of Apis mellifera honey as well as the alterations in the quality of A. mellifera honey after being used in the feeding of Melipona subnitida colonies. A. mellifera honeys were collected in apiaries, homogenised and used as feed for M. subnitida bees for 30 days. Every five days, honey samples were collected and evaluated for physicochemical characteristics and bioactive compounds. The treatments consisted of natural honeys of A. mellifera and M. subnitida and honey of M. subnitida bee after being fed with A. mellifera honey (modified honey). M. subnitida bees, when fed with honey from A. mellifera, modified some of its characteristics, such as moisture, reducing sugars, diastase activity, colour and flavonoid content. Natural and modified honeys of A. mellifera were similar to each other and different from M. subnitida honey in terms of minerals, free acidity, electrical conductivity, phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Treatments were similar in terms of sucrose, insoluble matter, hydroxymethylfurfural and water activity. In general, the quality attributes of the modified honey were closer to the honey of A. mellifera than to the natural M. subnitida honey.
Highlights
Honey is a sweet, viscous and aromatic product, synthesised by bees after their feeding with floral nectar or other parts of plants and excretions of sucking insects, that bees collect and store in honeycombs for maturation (Belay et al, 2017; Aljohar et al, 2018; Khan et al, 2018)
A part of the samples was taken for the quality analyses, whilst the other part was used for the feeding of M. subnitida bees
Honey moisture content statistically differed (p < 0.05) among the treatments, with the highest moisture in M. subnitida honey (26.11%), lowest in natural A. mellifera honey (17.59%) and intermediate moisture in modified A. mellifera honey (22.89%) (Table 2). This effect is to be expected because Apis mellifera honey is denser than that of melipona, so when ingested by stingless bees, it tends to become diluted
Summary
Viscous and aromatic product, synthesised by bees after their feeding with floral nectar or other parts of plants and excretions of sucking insects, that bees collect and store in honeycombs for maturation (Belay et al, 2017; Aljohar et al, 2018; Khan et al, 2018). Most of Brazilian honey production is made by European honey bees (Apis mellifera) (with sting). On a small scale, meliponines are responsible for honey production in Brazil, which include species of the genera Melipona, Trigona and Tetragona, known as melipona, indigenous or stingless bees (Alves, Carvalho, Souza, Sodré, & Marchini, 2005; Oliveira et al, 2012; Pedro, 2014; Jaffé et al, 2015). Despite the traditional and low-tech breeding system and lower productivity in relation to other types of honey, melipona bees’ honey has a high price, mainly due to its high medicinal value (Vit, Medina, & Enríquez, 2004; Jaffé et al, 2015; Alvarez-Suarez et al, 2018). The creation and economic exploitation of stingless bees, called meliponiculture, is a highly sustainable activity that contributes to the conservation of bees and to the preservation of native plants (Vale, Gomes, Santos, & Ferreira, 2018)
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