Protein and phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of honey bee-collected unifloral pollen pellets from Finland

Figures & data

Table 1. Botanical origins, colours and collecting places of pollen pellet samples.

			Colour of the pollen pellet	Locations
Sample name	Possible plant species	n		Ilomantsi	Kirkkonummi	Leppävirta	Joensuu	Lappajärvi	Janakkala	Nederlappfors
Ranunculus	Ranunculus acris L. R.repens L.	4	yellow-orange	x	x		x			x
Brassica	Brassica rapa subsp. Oleifera (DC.) Metzg B. napus subsp. Oleifera (Moench) Metzg. Barbarea vulgaris W. T. Aiton	7	bright yellow	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Filipendula	Filipendula ulmaria L. Maxim.	5	olive green	x	x		x	x		x
Rubus	Rubus idaeus L.	4	greyish beige	x	x		x			x
Vicia	Vicia cracca, L., V. faba L.	4	grey or brown	x	x				x	x
T. repens	Trifolium repens L.	5	brown		x		x	x	x	x
T. pratense	T. pratense L.	5	dark grey	x	x		x	x		x
Epilobium	Epilobium angustifolium L.	7	dark blue, violet or grey	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Taraxacum	Taraxacum spp G.H.Weber ex Wiggers	4	orange	x	x		x			x

Table 2. Protein (% DW + s.e.) content in pollen pellet samples. Statistically significant differences at p < 0.05 (Tukey HSD) are marked with letters a-b.

Sample name	Ranunculus	Brassica	Filipendula	Rubus	Vicia	Trifolium repens	T. pratense	Epilobium	Taraxacum
Protein content	18.8 ± 0.3	27.8 ± 0.3	19.0 ± 0.2	29.3 ± 0.3	27.4 ± 0.7	27.7 ± 0.3	27.1 ± 0.2	21.1 ± 0.1	18.2 ± 0.2
	a	b	a	b	b	b	b	a	a

Figure 1. A) Distribution of detected phenolics in different phenolic groups (mg g⁻¹ FW) and B) total number of individual compounds and number of identical compound levels in the pollen pellets of different botanical origins.

Figure 2. The percentage of inhibition of the pollen pellets extract in DPPH assay (mean ± s.e.). Statistically significant differences at p < 0.05 (Tukey HSD) are marked with letters a-d.

Figure 3. Correlation between total amounts of identified phenolic compounds (mg g⁻¹ FW) and antioxidant activity (%).