Plant sources for bee pollen load production in Sergipe, northeast Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, the production of bee pollen loads began modestly in the late 1980s, stimulated by consumption of natural products. Demand and consumption have increased, and there has been no increase in scientific studies. This work aims to expand scientific knowledge by identifying the plants used by Apis mellifera L. as sources of pollen loads in the State of Sergipe, Brazil. Twelve samples were collected from January to December 2011, in the municipalities of Barra dos Coqueiros, Brejo Grande, Estância and Pacatuba, all located in the eastern region of Sergipe. For the study of the pollen grains, the bee pollen underwent the usual laboratory processing techniques (acetolysis). For the analysis 500 grains were counted from each sample and, for botanical identification, the specialised literature and the pollen library were used. A total of 46 pollen types, distributed in 19 families, were found. Fabaceae was the family displaying the greatest diversity of pollen types (19), and the genus Mimosa L. was the most diverse (8). The families Asteraceae, Anacardiaceae, Myrtaceae and Rubiaceae were represented by three pollen types each, and Lamiaceae, only two types. The other 13 families presented one pollen type each. Only eight pollen types were classified as very frequent (> 50%); however, only Cocos nucifera occurred in 100% of the samples. It can be concluded that the families Arecaceae and Fabaceae are the major pollen sources for production of bee pollen in the state of Sergipe, followed by Asteraceae, Anacardiaceae, Poaceae and Rubiaceae. Pollen spectra revealed that at least 29 genera of plants contribute to the bee pollen load production in the tropical rainforest zone in northeastern Brazil.

Keywords:

• bee pollen loads
• bees (Apis mellifera L)
• Arecaceae
• Brazil
• pollen analysis
• Fabaceae

Acknowledgements

We thank the funding agencies CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de Nível Superior) for a scholarship to the first author, and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) and SEBRAE/SE (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas/Sergipe) for financial support through a scientific grant to FARS. We would also like to thank the beekeepers and Sebrae/SE, for donating samples of pollen used in this study, the Graduate Program in Botany and the Plant Micromorphology Laboratory, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana for allowing the use of their facilities for this research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rodolfo de França Alves

RODOLFO F. ALVES has a bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the Universidade Tiradentes, Brazil and a masters degree in Botany from the Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, also in Brazil. Currently he is a PhD student conducting research on the pollen analysis of monofloral bee pollen loads. He has experience in pollen morphology and taxonomy.

Francisco de Assis Ribeiro dos Santos

FRANCISCO DE ASSIS R. DOS SANTOS has a bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil (1987), a masters degree in Botany from the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil (1993) and a PhD in Botany from the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil (1998). He developed a postdoctoral programme in palynology at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico. He is currently a full-time professor at the Universiadde Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil and researches all aspects of palynology.