The demand for monofloral, original, and special (functional) kinds of honey, or those with geographical indication, is forecast. At the same time, there is a need to improve the methods for determining the botanical and geographical origin of honey. The purpose of the research was to select and apply a variety of techniques for identifying the botanical origin of honey for its correspondence to acacia species. Samples of honey from the Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro regions extracted in the spring and summer period were used in the research. Organoleptic, physicochemical, NMR spectrometry, and advanced melissopalynology methods were applied. The tests were carried out at the laboratories of the Department of Certification and Standardization of Agricultural Products, NULES, Ukraine; the Ukrainian Laboratory of Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products; and the Bruker BioSpin GmbH company (Germany). According to the research results, the requirements for acacia honey were met by the organoleptic method for samples B1 and B2; by the physicochemical method for A0 and A2; by NMR spectroscopy for not a single sample, all being assessed as polyfloral; and by pollen analysis for B1 and B2. The conducted studies confirm the need for a comprehensive approach to the identification of the botanical origin of honey for its conformity to acacia species. There is a need to review the physicochemical indicators for the compliance of honey with the acacia species obtained in Ukraine. After all, even the modern NMR spectrometry technique indicated that the specially fabricated sample that did not contain acacia pollen grains was acacia honey. Identification of the botanical origin of monofloral honey, in particular acacia, should be carried out in the following sequence: pollen analysis (by dominant pollen grains), safety (presence of antibiotics, pesticides), physicochemical parameters according to international requirements, organoleptic parameters.

Over the last decades, the number of honey bee colonies in the world has been declining. A honey bee is the most important pollinator in agriculture. According to estimates, such a situation can threaten the food security of humanity. The purpose was to investigate the specific aspects of the managed honey bee population in Zhytomyr region. The population dynamics, number, and density were determined. For this purpose the statistics of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on the number of bee colonies by categories of producers in Ukraine and Zhytomyr region were used. It was established that in Zhytomyr region over the past quarter century, the population of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) has increased by 2 times up to 193.4 thousand colonies. During the same period, the number of bee colonies in Ukraine has increased by 1.4 times. At present, Zhytomyr region is a leader in the state in the development of the beekeeping industry. Eight percent of all honey bee colonies in the country are concentrated here. In the Zhytomyr region, the density of honey bee population is one of the highest in Ukraine. 82 colonies are concentrated here on one conditional pasture area (1256 hectares), with 7 colonies per 100 hectares of land. In Ukraine, these indicators are 52 and 4 respectively. The distribution of bee colonies in the region is uneven. The vast majority of colonies (58.5%) are concentrated in the Polissia. There are from 1 to 18 colonies per 100 hectares of land in each of the units in the region, on the conditional pasture area from 16 to 224. The results of these studies are relevant for the commodity apiaries for the rational use of honey flow and to make a well-considered decision on the prospect of increasing the number of bee colonies. Further work will be aimed at the investigation into the melliferous base and the calculation of the feed balance of the beekeeping industry in Zhytomyr region.

No abstract

No abstract

Установлены различия удельной активности 137Cs меда в зависимости от количества поколений пчел выращенных в сотах. Распределение радиоактивного изотопа цезия-137 в гнезде пчел по степени убывания: старые соты, восковая крышечка, перга в сотах, мед забрусовый, трутневый гомогенат.