Mineral composition of bee pollen and its relationship with botanical origin and harvesting period

Abstract

In the present study, the mineral composition of seventy-one bee pollen samples from four different apiaries was determined by means of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. The results showed that there were no significant differences in relation to the overall mineral content per sample in terms of the apiary of origin or the harvesting period; the most common elements were phosphorus and potassium with concentrations ranging from 2.3 to 5.1 g/kg (dry weight). Moreover, the mineral content of the samples analyzed was similar to or higher than the recommended as well-balanced food for bees. Regarding the nutritional value for humans, bee pollen samples could be considered as a food rich in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus. Finally, a canonical discriminant analysis was performed, and it was found that the apiary of origin could be distinguished by using the first three canonical functions; furthermore, over 90% of the samples could be correctly assigned to their corresponding apiary. The results were even better as regards the harvesting period, as only the first two canonical functions were sufficient to make a distinction between the different harvesting periods, resulting in a perfect match (100% of success rate).