Content of bioelements and toxic metals in honey of various botanical orgin from Lower Silesia

Abstract

Analyzing the content of bioelements and toxic metals in honeys of various botanical origin is important for the consumers' health. In addition, many authors notice that results of such analyses can help to identify the botanical and geographical origin of honey and to use the product as a bioindicator of the overall contamination of the environment. The content of As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, Ni, Mg, Fe, Cr was determined in samples of nectar honey (acacia, linden, goldenrod, multifloral, buckwheat, oilseed rape) originating from some areas in the Province of Lower Silesia unexposed to industrial and traffic emissions. In order to demonstrate differences in concentrations of the metals in particular honey samples, one-factor analysis of variance or the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied, and the correlation between levels of individual metals in the honeys was investigated. Similarities between the honeys with regard to the metal content were determined using Ward's method of cluster analysis. Among the analyzed nectar honeys from Lower Silesia, the content of zinc was the highest in linden flower honey (13.41 mg kg-1), copper and manganese-in buckwheat (1.50 mg kg-1 and 9.40 mg kg-1 , respectively), nickel-in multifloral (1.03 mg kg-1) and buckwheat (1.25 mg kg-1), magnesium-in goldenrod (29.6 mg kg-1) and iron-in linden flower (2.11 mg kg-1) and goldenrod (2.00 mg kg-1) honeys. The content of arsenic, cadmium and lead did not exceed the permissible values, i.e. 0.20, 0.03 and 0.30 mg kg-1. The correlation analysis performed on the concentrations of the metals in the honeys demonstrated that manganese was positively correlated with copper and nickel, while iron correlated with zinc. Najwiêksze podobieñstwo, jeoeli chodzi o kumulacjê metali, wykaza³y miody rzepakowy i akacjowy oraz wielokwiatowy i naw³ociowy. Wykorzystuj¹c ten fakt do bioindykacji ska¿enia oerodowiska, nale¿a³oby zweryfikowaae go na materiale pochodz¹cym z obszarów, gdzie wy-st¹pi³yby ró¿nice w zawartooeci metali szczególnie niebezpiecznych, zw³aszcza kadmu i o³owiu.

The Influence of Chemical Contaminants on the Physicochemical Properties of Unifloral and Multifloral Honey

“…Similar to our results, potassium was the dominant macroelement; the lowest concentration was found in rapeseed samples, with 310.59 mg/kg. Nowak et al [ 116 ] reported high concentrations of Mn and Cu in buckwheat honey and low concentrations of Mn in rapeseed honey due to the capacity of buckwheat to absorb some of these elements from the soil and accumulate them.…”