Sensory and physicochemical characterization of Citrus, Erica and Lavandula honeys from Castelo Branco

In this study samples of the monofloral honeys more common in Castelo Branco region were tested: Eucalyptus ssp., Erica spp. and Lavandula spp. Evaluation of unifloral conformity was carried out by laboratorial pollen analysis

Floral monitoring and biophysics parameters as a tool to beekeepers installation decision

Beekeeping offers a great development potential, as a source of food, as a nutritional complement and also as raw material provider to several activities. Moreover, biodiversity improvement conservation, incentive for retention of natural habitats and an ideal activity for forest conservation programmes are important factors associated with this activity. Honey is a natural sweet product that is produced in almost all Portuguese Regions. Honeys from certain areas are preferred mainly because of their sensory characteristics, which are related to their floral origin. The pollen and nectar variability influences the honey flavour and determines its commercial quality. The aims of this work are: geographical identification of existing apiaries in the central region of Portugal; identification and quantification of floral sources; characterization of honey (sensory and physico-chemical); construction of thematic maps supporting the new hives installation, predicting the honey characteristics. This methodology has been applied in a Portuguese studied area (Vila Velha de Ródão). A first identification of the apiaries allowed the establishment of the potential zones to future beekeepers installation (Lidónio et al., 2009) (Figure 1). In order to complete the previous information, it is in progress the identification and quantification of species for apiculture interest as well as the honey physical and chemical characterization. Potential apiculture development characterization has been mapped using the following attributes: surrounding area for 200 vegetation units (Forestry zones, agricultural zones and bush zones); slopes warm temperate (warm and very hot); the surrounding area, about 200m, around the water lines and water points; surrounding feeding apiary area (50m diameter); urban admissible legal boundary (100 m diameter for each apiary). It was also considered, the shading maps because of its importance on hive production and bee behaviour. Shading values considered favourable are between 0 and 127. A methodological procedure was developed, aiming the potential beekeeping map construction. Identification of favourable areas, for future beekeepers apiaries installation, will be possible in result of this study. In many Portuguese regions some beekeepers transport their hives, according to the floral sources development in order to reach regions where the production of some species is higher, allowing the improvement of some crop pollinization, for a specific month. Vila Velha de Rodão area, about 10885ha, presents excellent conditions for proper development of beekeeping. It is well documented that the pollen quality and variability, influences the honey flavour and quality (Anjos et al., 2009). The studied region is limited by the major watercourses and their respective valleys and steep slopes. Predominantly those uncultivated land, presents high biodiversity with high beekeeping potential. Some of the most important species present in this region are, Lavandula pedunculata (Miller) Cav., Cistus ladanifer L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Erica umbellata L., Erica 13th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science 2010 Page 2 of 3 Guimarães, Portugal australis L., Erica lusitanica, Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull, Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss., Echium plantagineum L., Genista triacanthos Brot., Quercus rotundifolia Lam, Quercus pyrenaica Willd., Cytisus multiflorus (L'Hér.) Sweet and Cytisus striatus (Hill) Rothm, Arbutus unedo L., Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Juniperus oxycedrus L. (Almeida, 2004; Carvalhinho, 2004; Monteiro, 2003). In future works, iso-quality mapping, for beekeeping potential characterization, will be concluded, for central Portugal. This will allow the beekeepers installation optimization and support a honey production sustainable management

Sensory evaluation of virgin olive oils from organic agriculture and integrated production

In the present work four olive groves were selected: two in organic agriculture and two in integrated production. Olives were handpicked at two ripening stages and processed by a low-scale mill with a working capacity of 0.05 tons h-1. Differences between olive oils were evaluated through a sensory quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) for positive attributes; moreover, some chemical parameters that could be related with bitterness, like phenol content and the specific absorbance at 225 nm (K225), were determined as well. Some analyses were also conducted with an Alpha MOS electronic nose system, FOX 2000

Novel, edible melanin-protein-based bioactive films for cheeses: antimicrobial, mechanical and chemical characteristics

The cheese rind is the natural food packaging of cheese and is subject to a wide range of external factors that compromise the appearance of the cheese, including color defects caused by spoilage microorganisms. First, eight films based on whey protein isolate (WPI) coatings were studied, of which IS3CA (WPI 5% + sorbitol 3% + citric acid 3%) was selected for presenting better properties. From the IS3CA film, novel films containing melanin M1 (74 g/mL) and M2 (500 g/mL) were developed and applied to cheese under proof-of-concept and industrial conditions. After 40 days of maturation, M2 presented the lowest microorganism count for all the microbial parameters analyzed. The cheese with M2 showed the lowest lightness, which indicates that it is the darkest cheese due to the melanin concentration. It was found that the mechanical and colorimetric properties are the ones that contribute the most to the distinction of the M2 film in cheese from the others. Using FTIR-ATR, it was possible to distinguish the rinds of M2 cheeses because they contained the highest concentrations of melanin. Thus, this study shows that the film with M2 showed the best mechanical, chemical and antimicrobial properties for application in cheese.This work was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) with financial support from IPCB-CERNAS (UID/AMB/00681/2020) Research Unit Grant from FCT, and from UIDB/00239/2020 (CEF). Work was supported by UIDB/04046/2020 and UIDP/04046/2020 Centre grants from FCT, Portugal (to BioISI). The work was co-funded by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. This work is the recipient of a project (PTDC/Bia- BQM/28355/2017) grant, and Ana Rita Ferraz acknowledges a Ph.D. fellowship (SFRH/BD/135692/2018) from FCT (Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of GIS in potential beekeeping assessment: Case study of Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal)

Planners require solutions that address routine work needs and seems essential to improving efficiency and productivity. There are a great number of different factors related to beekeeper activity as well the quality and productivity of different bee products. The spatial analysis is a powerful tool for overlap and relates various levels of information on a map, and consequently a very useful for beekeeping activity planning. This work proposes and applies a methodology to potential beekeeping assessment in Montesinho Natural Park, a region in the northwest of Portugal. The beekeeping potential maps were developed with the following data sources: legal standards, vegetation, land use, topography, water resources, roads, electromagnetic fields, and some honey physico-chemical analysis. The design and implementation of spatial analysis model based on Geographic Information System (GIS) to beekeeping planning activities has already been described by Anjos et al (2014). Spatial analysis techniques allows to define the potential beekeeper map supporting the beekeeper management in this region. Anjos O, Silva G, Roque N, Fernandez P, 2014. GIS based analysis to support the beekeeping planning. Book of abstracts of the International Symposium on Bee Products 3rd edition – Annual meeting of the International Honey Commission (IHC), Faculty of medicine, University of Rijeka, p:6

Implementação e validação de um método por HPLC para determinação de frutose, glucose e sacarose em mel.

Comunicação da qual só está disponível o resumo.O mel é constituído, maioritariamente, por açúcares, água e um grande número de constituintes minoritários. A composição em açúcares influência diversas características do mel, como o sabor, a viscosidade, a cristalização, a conservação, as propriedades térmicas, a higroscopicidade, o valor energético, além das propriedades antibacterianas. Os açúcares representam cerca de 65-85 % dos sólidos totais do mel. A soma de frutose e glucose correspondem no mínimo a 90 % da fração glucídica. O teor destes dois açúcares (que de acordo com o CODEX (2001) deve ser superior a 60 g/100 g) é muito importante para a avaliação da qualidade deste alimento dado que a sua proporção define a possibilidade de cristalização do mel. Por seu turno, a sacarose é um dissacárido que, tal como a frutose e a glucose, assume um papel muito importante na avaliação da qualidade do mel já que, o seu teor máximo se encontra regulamentado em 5 g/100 g, sendo a sua quantificação fundamental para a verificação do cumprimento da legislação (CODEX, 2001). Com o objetivo de criar uma nova técnica analítica que possa juntar-se às que já existem na ESACB, nomeadamente, na prestação de serviços à comunidade e aos trabalhos de investigação, o Laboratório de Instrumentação Analítica, decidiu implementar um método que permitisse determinar em méis os açúcares mais abundantes (frutose e glucose); a sacarose por ter um limite legislado; e a turanose e a maltose para maior caracterização e possível diferenciação dos méis de diferentes regiões. Neste sentido, implementou-se um método por cromatografia líquida de alta pressão (HPLC) com detetor de índice de refração (IR), estudando os parâmetros estatísticos que permitem validar este procedimento. Utilizou-se um cromatógrafo HPLC Agilent 1100, forno de coluna a 30 ºC, uma coluna Purospher STAR NH2 (250 mm x 4,6 mm x 5 !m). A eluição foi isocrática, com eluente acetonitrilo/água 80:20 (v/v), com um fluxo de 1,3 mL/min. A quantificação foi efectuada pelo método do padrão externo. Neste trabalho, estudaram-se os parâmetros de validação mais relevantes já que, se partiu de um método normalizado. Para a sacarose, por existir uma concentração máxima legislada para amostras de mel, avaliaram-se também, a linearidade, repetibilidade, o limite de detecção (LD) e quantificação (LQ) e a sensibilidade.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Aplicación de redes neuronales en la determinación de origen botánico de miel a partir de sus propiedades físico-químicas

Só está disponível o resumo.Aplicación de redes neuronales en la determinación de origen botánico de miel a partir de sus propiedades físico-químicas

Avaliação da cor no mel.

Comunicação da qual só está disponível o resumo.A cor do mel é um dos parâmetros analíticos que se encontra diretamente relacionado com a preferência dos consumidores. Esta característica depende da origem floral do mel, estando consequentemente ligado à sua composição química nomeadamente a diversos compostos como carotenóides, antocianinas e flavonas e a aspetos organoléticos. Neste trabalho foi avaliada a cor de 90 amostras de mel por três métodos: a) colorímetro Pfund em que a cor é expressa em mm e agrupada em: branco-água (0-8 mm), extra-branco (8-16,5 mm), branco (16,5-34 mm), âmbar extra-claro (34-50 mm), âmbar claro (50-85 mm), âmbar (85-114 mm) e escuro (mais de 114 mm); b) leitura da absorvância a 650 nm convertido em escala Pfund pela equação: Pfund (mm) = -38,70 + 371,39 × Abs650; c) colorimetria no sistema CIELAB (L*, a* e b*), no qual L* é o componente de luminosidade, que varia de 0 a 100, a* e b* são dois componentes de cor, que variam de -100 a 100 e em que a* varia de verde a vermelho e b* de azul a amarelo. Posteriormente, foram selecionadas algumas amostras para serem avaliadas por um painel de consumidores, aos quais foi solicitado que identificassem a cor de uma amostra de mel perante uma escala de cores que lhes era apresentada. Os resultados demonstraram que não há correlação aceitável entre os diferentes métodos analíticos. A distribuição das amostras de mel pelas 7 cores estabelecidas medidas em escala Pfund e absorvância são coincidentes entre 31% e 67% dependendo da cor. Por outro lado, os ensaios com o painel de consumidores demonstraram que embora reconheçam o padrão pré estabelecido na escala, não identificam sempre a cor correspondente da amostra de mel.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio