Análise polínica de méis da Costa do Descobrimento, Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

Due to the lack of knowledge about the apicultural flora of the Discovery Coast of Bahia State, in this research we aimed to carry out a pollen analysis of honey samples produced in that region, through melissopalinology – a tool to identify the flora used by bees. The dissertation is organized in two chapters: 1) Melissopalynological characterization of honey from the Discovery Coast, Brazil, and 2) Honeys of aroeira, eucalyptus and velame: does palynology confirm such predominant flowering indicated by beekeepers? We colected 21 honey samples of Apis mellifera L., from November 2017 to August 2018, directly from beekeepers. We acetolysed all honey samples and the slides were deposited on palinoFLORAS/UFSB. We identified the pollen types present in the honeys by comparison with the descriptions from the specialized literature and later we counted at least 500 pollen grains per sample, determining the frequency classes: predominant pollen, secondaru, important minor and minor pollen. We determined the botanical affinity of 44 pollen types, distributed in 34 genera and 22 families. Four predominant pollen types were recorded: Brosimum, Cecropia, Eucalyptus 1 and Mimosa pudica. In relation to the principal component analysis, we showed the grouping formation due to the presence of the pollen types Mimosa pudica, 2 - Eucalyptus 1 and 3 - Cecropia. In the palynological analysis of honeys indicated as having a predominant flowering, we recorded the following predominant pollen types: Eucalyptus, Myrcia and Vernonia. Two samples with indicated predominant flowering of velame (Croton spp., Euphorbiaceae) and aroeira (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi, Anacardiaceae) presented no pollen types related to these botanical species. Among the five samples indicated to be of predominant flowering of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp., Myrtaceae), one had no predominant flowering indicated by palynology, and another one showed the pollen type Eucalyptus as predominant pollen; the other samples presented it as a secondary pollen. Although some honeys samples indicated as having a predominant flowering have not correctly reflected these botanical origins, in 57% of the analyzed material, pollen types similar to those indicated as predominant appeared in the pollen spectrum of honeys from the Bahia Discovery Coast.