Thursday, September 06, 2007

Study on the Sugar Composition of Honeybee-Collected Pollen

Journal of Apicultural Science, Vol.51 No.1 2007

Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the sugar composition in bee pollen collected in different countries (Poland, South Korea and China)…

The study showed that sugar content of pollen loads dry matter averages 40%. Fructose to be the sugar occurring in the greatest amounts. It accounted for 46% of the total sugar content of the examined samples. The second highest sugar content - 37% - was that of glucose. Monosaccharides expressed as total fructose and glucose accounted for about 83% of the carbohydrate fraction of pollen.

Of the assayed disaccharides sucrose accounted for 8% and maltose for 7%, and the remaining disaccharides (trehalose and turanose) for about 1% each.

Chemical composition of bee-collected pollen varied substantially with regard to saccharide content which was probably due to its different botanical origin. As compared to pollen loads samples from South Korea and China those collected in Poland had a significantly higher fructose to glucose ratio.

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