Pollen types in honey produced in caatinga vegetation, Brazil

Abstract

Honey samples produced in the years 2010 and 2011, in an area of caatinga vegetation in the semi-arid region of Piauí State (Brazil), were analyzed using microscopy in order to track their botanical origin by the pollen grains present. Samples (19) were dissolved in ethanol and acetolyzed. The absolute concentration of pollen grains was obtained by comparison with the exotic marker Lycopodium clavatum L., and at least 500 pollen grains were counted per sample. The most diverse families were Leguminosae, Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Myrtaceae, reflecting the characteristics of the semi-arid region and the caatinga, including endemic species. Samples from February (2010) showed a greater richness of pollen types, which is probably associated with the onset of the rainy season. Even during the dry season, there was honey production, with a considerable diversity of pollen types. This indicates that there are plant species in flower during the dry season that are important to sustaining bee colonies. Mimosa caesalpiniifolia and Pityrocarpa moniliformis were the only predominant pollen types; Coutarea and P. moniliformis were the secondary types. The pollen types Borreria verticillata, Combretum, Croton, Herissantia, Hyptis, Microtea, Mimosa caesalpiniifolia, M. misera, M. tenuiflora, P. moniliformis and Poaceae are very frequent in the analyzed honey, and characteristic of honey from Simplício Mendes. The absolute concentration analysis showed that 69% of the honey was classified in category I, 26% in category II and 5% in category III. A cluster analysis showed the formation of two major clades, one that shared many pollen types of Croton (S2) and another that shared the pollen types Borreria verticillata and Hyptis (S1). Two samples were considered monofloral honey (from M. caesalpiniifolia) and the remainder were considered heterofloral.

Keywords:

• melissopalynology
• botanical origin
• honey production
• pollen analysis
• Brazilian semi-arid

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Bruno Almeida, from Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária/Meio Norte (EMBRAPA/MN), the beekeepers of Simplício Mendes, especially Sr. Paulo José da Silva (the manager of Cooperativa Mista de Apicultores de Simplício Mendes – COMAPI) for his promptness in supplying the samples, and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for granting the first author a doctoral scholarship and for providing a research grant to FARS.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

RICARDO LANDIM BORMANN DE BORGES is undergraduate in teaching Biological Sciences from the State University of Feira de Santana (2006), a Master's degree in Botany (2008) and a PhD in Botany by the same instituion (2013). He is currently an associate professor at the State University of Bahia. He has experience in botany, with emphasis on palynology, working mainly on the following topics: pollen flora, bee plants, pollen morphology, palinotaxonomy and melissopalinology.

MARCEL CARVALHO DE JESUS is a Bachelor in Biological Sciences graduated from the State University of Feira de Santana (2011) and Master in Sciences - Botany by the same institution (2014). It develops works in the area of Palynology, mainly applied palynology to the honey production chain, studying the use of plants by the bees for the production of the product. He also has experience in Microbiology, with emphasis on applied Microbiology.

RICARDO COSTA RODRIGUES DE CAMARGO is Biologist, with a Master's degree in the Department of Zoology - Institute of Biosciences (1996) and Doctorate in Zootechnics - Area of Nutrition and Production and Animal (Apiculture) by the Paulista State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho-UNESP-Botucatu-SP (2001). Post-doctorate at the Institute of Chemistry of the State University of Campinas - Unicamp (Department of Analytical Chemistry). Researcher of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company since 2001. Experience in the elaboration and conduction of R & D projects aimed at family agriculture, working mainly on the following topics: Meliponiculture, Beekeeping, Bee Products Quality, Pollination, Agroecology and Agroforestry Systems, Good Practices and Certification Processes, Legislation and Normalization of Productive Chains of Apiculture and Meliponiculture.

FRANCISCO DE ASSIS RIBEIRO DOS SANTOS is undergraduate in teaching Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Bahia (1987), Master's Degree in Botany from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (1993) and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Botany) from the University of São Paulo (1998). He is currently Full Professor at the Feira de Santana State University. He has post-doctoral training in Palynology at the National School of Biological Sciences (National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico). He is currently developing research in pollen studies, mainly on bee products. He is a supervisor of graduate students (Ms, Ph.D.), and has a research grant from CNPq.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) under Grant [142345/2009-1] for the first author and PQ2 for the last author.