Viper's bugloss (Echium spp.) honey typing and establishing the pollen threshold for monofloral honey.

Tomás Martín Arroyo,Amelia V. González-Porto,Carmen Bartolomé Esteban,Wolfgang Blenau

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185405

Tomás Martín Arroyo, Amelia V. González-Porto + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185405

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Abstract

Honey samples (n = 126) from Castilla-La Mancha (Central Spain) were characterized based on their physicochemical properties and a melissopalynological analysis. The latter showed that Echium pollen type was the dominant palynomorph in most samples, representing at least 30% of the pollen in each sample. As anticipated, a relationship was observed between the proportion of this pollen and the properties of the honey. One goal of this study was to set a threshold that defines the percentage of pollen necessary for Viper’s bugloss honey to be considered monofloral or multifloral. This is a mandatory requirement in light of the publication of the European Directive 2014/63/EU establishing the regulations governing the labelling and control of honey to eradicate fraud (BOE n° 147, June 2015). By analyzing how the proportions of Echium pollen type affected the physicochemical and sensory parameters of the honey, the honeys analyzed could be segregated into multifloral and monofloral honeys. The data indicates that the proportion of pollen necessary to discriminate monofloral Viper’s bugloss honey lies at 70%.

Highlights

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data underlying this study come from the Database of CIAPA and can be found in the Supporting Information tables
The most abundant is without doubt E. plantagineum L., followed by Echium vulgare
After the correlation analyses of the representation of Echium pollen type with respect to each of the variables analyzed in the samples, we obtain a first approximation as to which variables will have a stronger influence on the properties of the honey

Summary

Introduction

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data underlying this study come from the Database of CIAPA and can be found in the Supporting Information tables. The species of the family Boraginaceae are clearly entomophilous, attracting insects with the reward of both pollen and nectar The position of their anthers and the smallness of the grains ensures that large amounts of pollen are released into the atmosphere, with its consequent anemophilous transport. The most abundant is without doubt E. plantagineum L., followed by Echium vulgare Most of these species produce the same pollen type described by Dıez [4,5], characteristically small in size (P = 13–25μm; E = 8–15μm) and heteropolar. It is important to determine the precise proportions of pollen necessary to discriminate Echium monofloral honeys, and to quantify and specify the characteristics of viper’s bugloss honey in the Iberian Peninsula. Defining the features necessary to classify viper’s bugloss honey as monofloral will aid its labeling, thereby helping to control fraud [32], and it will help consumers who are looking for specific properties in the honey they consume, in line with the European Directive 2014/63/UE

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions