Sazonalidade, composição e armazenamento do pólen apícola de Astronium urundeuva (Anacardiaceae)

Abstract

Bee pollen is a product rich in nutrients and has notable medicinal value. The objective was to characterize the structure and chemical composition of Astronium urundeuva bee pollen, depending on seasonality and storage. Bee pollen was collected in the north of Minas Gerais, in four and three months of two subsequent years, during the species' flowering period. Biometric, color, light and scanning electron microscopy analyses, histochemical tests and bromatological analyses, quantification of total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins and carotenoids, evaluation of antioxidant activity and characterization of the phenolic acid profile were carried out. The percentage of aroeira pollen grains in the samples ranged from 36.5 to 93.4%. The samples from May/23, June/22 and 23 and July/22 were considered as monofloral, as they presented more than 60% of aroeira pollen grains and no occurrence of accessory pollen or presented more than 80% of aroeira pollen grains. The bee pollen batches with the highest percentage of aroeira pollen grains showed a predominance of pellets with a brown color, with the highest occurrence in June (83.9%). A. urundeuva bee pollen proved to be a good source of proteins and bioactive compounds. The sample with the highest percentage of aroeira pollen grains had the highest concentration of total phenolics, yellow flavonoids and carotenoids. Storage reduced the levels of bioactive compounds. Phenolic acids were identified: salicylic, vanillic, syringic, gallic, ferulic and caffeic in the analyzed samples. These results confirm that bee pollen from A. urundeuva is a product with high nutritional value, being considered a superfood and a functional food.