Seasonality influence on the production and quality of bee pollen and propolis produced in Botucatu, São Paulo State

• Grant number: 10/02720-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2010
• End date: May 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo de Oliveira Orsi
• Grantee: Ricardo de Oliveira Orsi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The bee pollen and propolis are products produced by the Apis mellifera L. bees. This product has an important function for the beehive and is used by humans because of its biological properties. Currently, the increasing search for natural products have also increased the demand for these apicultural products, thus bringing an excellent growth for beekeepers. All knowledge of production and quality are extremely important, because it contributes for the characterization of these products. The goals of the present research will be to evaluate the effect of seazonality in production of bee pollen and propolis, the minerals analysis (magnesium, zinc, iron, nickel, sodium, calcium, aluminum, copper, lithium and potassium) and to evaluate the bromatology profile (total protein, staple fibres, lipid, leached ashes, total sweeten) in the samples. Five beehives of Apis mellifera L. bees will be used to collect bee pollen, using a frontal pollen collector, three times a week for one year. For the propolis collection three different types of collectors will be used (plastic screen, "intelligent" collecting of propolis and scraping), using three beehives for each collector. All the samples will be collected, benefited and stored in the freezer until they are analysed. To compare the means (p£0,05), will be used analysis of variance followed by Tukey test. Correlation of Pearson will be also used in the analyzed variables (AU)