Pollen analysis of honey samples produced in the counties of Santa Helena and Terra Roxa, western Region of Paraná, Southern Brazil

Abstract

A melissopalinologia foi utilizada para determinar a origem botânica do mel, importante para sua rastreabilidade. Quarenta amostras de mel dos municípios de Santa Helena (20) e Terra Roxa (20), região oeste do Paraná, foram analisadas de acordo com os tipos de pólen e comparações com os catálogos de pólen e literatura especializada. Em relação à qualidade analítica, foram identificados 300 grãos de pólen por amostra. Nas amostras de Santa Helena, foram encontrados 71 tipos de pólen de 24 famílias, classificados como mel monofloral de Hovenia dulcis (8) e o restante como multifloral (12). Nas amostras da Terra Roxa, 64 tipos de pólen pertencentes a 29 famílias foram classificadas como Glycine max L. Merrill (7), Mimosa scabrella Benth (2),Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth (1), Mimosa verrucosa Benth (1), Mikania sp. (1) e Senecio sp. (1) e como multifloral (7). Os dois locais têm um alto índice de similaridade, no entanto, a predominância de alguns tipos de pólen indica a especificidade botânica da localidade. Para Santa Helena, maior significância foi observada para o pólen de H. dulcis , Eucalyptus sp. , Parapiptadenia rigida , e leucena ; em Terra Roxa, os tipos de pólen G. max , M. scabrella e Eucalyptussp. teve mais incidentes. Apesar do índice de similaridade, os indicadores mostram diferenças entre as áreas produtoras. As amostras de mel de Santa Helena apresentaram maior diversidade de pólen em relação às amostras de Terra Roxa, refletindo a cobertura vegetativa predominante de matas ciliares e culturas agrícolas, respectivamente, em cada município.

Physicochemical, bioactive properties and antioxidant of Apis mellifera L. honey from western Paraná, Southern Brazil

“…During this period, there are flowering grapes from Japan (Hovenia dulcis), abundant species in the study area, mainly in the lakeside forests of Itaipu bi-national hydroelectric (Camargo et al, 2014). Moraes et al (2019) verified that in honey samples from the lake area, there is a predominance of pollen type H. dulcis in most of the honey sampled, characterized as monofloral of light shades. Nascimento et al (2018) found out that monofloral honey of this species has light shades, as well as a total phenol content of 30.5 mg GAE/100 g -1 and 0.2 mg EQ/100 g -1 of flavonoids.…”

“…Nascimento et al (2018) found out that monofloral honey of this species has light shades, as well as a total phenol content of 30.5 mg GAE/100 g -1 and 0.2 mg EQ/100 g -1 of flavonoids. Between December and March, the honey got darker, which may be linked to the Eucalyptus flowering, quite prevalent in the region (Sekine et al, 2019;Camargo et al, 2014) and significantly present in the honey samples of the region (Sekine et al, 2019;Moraes et al, 2019). It causes an increase in the bioactive compound contents and antioxidant activity.…”

“…This quality presents variations in quantity and type of phenolic compounds, as well as in flavor and aroma. The country has a vast geographical area, with great diversity of honey bee species for apiculture products, which reflects on the wide variety of honey (Moraes et al, 2019;Sekine et al, 2019;Nascimento et al, 2018). Furthermore, its quality is also attributed to the resistance of Africanized bees to diseases and pests, so there is no need to use chemicals that contaminate honey to maintain hives.…”

Antimicrobial activity, physical-chemical and activity antioxidant of honey samples of Apis mellifera from different regions of Paraná, Southern Brazil

“…It may be due to the high percentage of samples of light shades of honey produced in the region, where the authors observed 67.16% of the samples presented light amber color (Galhardo et al, 2020). This characteristic of honey from the Western region is associated with a botanical origin that has a dominance of Hovenia dulcis (Moraes et al, 2019) which presents lighter shades of honey (Nascimento et al, 2018).…”

“…There are other compounds of honey that contribute in this process, such as its osmolarity, acidity, lysozyme, phenolic phyto-chemical compounds and flavonoids (Olaitan et al, 2007;Brudzynski et al, 2012;Ewnetu et al, 2013;Hegazi et al, 2017;Hussain, 2017;Bucekova et al, 2018). The honey is a natural product, can vary depending on factors such as processing, bee species, botanical origin, a period of the year, rainfall patterns and geographic location (Silva et al, 2016;Moraes et al, 2019;Aydogan-Coskun et al, 2019;Braga et al, 2020;Wabaidur et al, 2020;Yaqub et al, 2020). These factors directly interfere with the composition of pollen and nectar collected by bees (Al-Waili et al, 2011;Bucekova et al, 2018).…”