PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MELISSOPALYNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL BUCKWHEAT HONEYS FROM POLAND

Buckwheat honey is widely consumed by consumers due to its numerous health-promoting properties. Characteristically it is dark, tea-like in colour, sharp, tickly, and sweet in flavour, and has smelled of buckwheat flowers. In the current study, various commercial honey samples were examined to test the quality of buckwheat honey samples available in the market. The research materials were comprised of 15 samples of honeys from 4 voivodships, among these, 5 samples were collected from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, 4 from the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, 4 from the Lubelskie Voivodship, and reset 2 samples from the Podkarpackie Voivodship. Melissopalynological analyses of investigated honeys’ samples revealed that all samples had at least 45% of Fagopyrym pollen content, which means that researched honeys complied with the standards of the International Commission for Bee Botany (ICBB) for buckwheat honey. Honeys’ samples had an average water content of 15.3% (σ= 1.24), and electrical conductivity at 0.37 mS*cm-1. Therefore, all beekeepers correctly marked their honey type as buckwheat honey simply using the organoleptic properties of their honeys and observing their bees collecting pollen and honeydew

Fascinating fructophilic lactic acid bacteria associated with various fructose-rich niches

Fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB) are recently described group of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that prefer fructose instead of glucose as a carbon source. FLAB have been isolated from fructose-rich niches such as flowers, fruits, fermented fruits, and gastrointestinal tracts of insects whose diet is based on fructose. These bacteria are divided into obligate and facultative fructophilc lactobacilli based on biochemical features. All FLAB are heterofermentative microorganisms, which during fermentation of carbohydrates, in addition to lactic acid, produce also acetic acid, and alcohol as end-products. The fructophilic bacteria, inhabiting the honeybee guts positively impact the health of their hosts, improve their longevity, and are promising probiotic candidates. These symbionts of honeybees play a key role in the production of honey by bees and are present in a large number in fresh honey. The combination of osmolarity with antibacterial, and therapeutic properties of these bacteria make fresh honey optimal alternative for future wound healing

Nosema ceranae Infection Promotes Proliferation of Yeasts in Honey Bee Intestines.

BACKGROUND:Nosema ceranae infection not only damages honey bee (Apis melifera) intestines, but we believe it may also affect intestinal yeast development and its seasonal pattern. In order to check our hypothesis, infection intensity versus intestinal yeast colony forming units (CFU) both in field and cage experiments were studied. METHODS/FINDINGS:Field tests were carried out from March to October in 2014 and 2015. N. ceranae infection intensity decreased more than 100 times from 7.6 x 108 in March to 5.8 x 106 in October 2014. A similar tendency was observed in 2015. Therefore, in the European eastern limit of its range, N. ceranae infection intensity showed seasonality (spring peak and subsequent decline in the summer and fall), however, with an additional mid-summer peak that had not been recorded in other studies. Due to seasonal changes in the N. ceranae infection intensity observed in honey bee colonies, we recommend performing studies on new therapeutics during two consecutive years, including colony overwintering. A natural decrease in N. ceranae spore numbers observed from March to October might be misinterpreted as an effect of Nosema spp. treatment with new compounds. A similar seasonal pattern was observed for intestinal yeast population size in field experiments. Furthermore, cage experiments confirmed the size of intestinal yeast population to increase markedly together with the increase in the N. ceranae infection intensity. Yeast CFUs amounted to respectively 2,025 (CV = 13.04) and 11,150 (CV = 14.06) in uninfected and N. ceranae-infected workers at the end of cage experiments. Therefore, honey bee infection with N. ceranae supported additional opportunistic yeast infections, which may have resulted in faster colony depopulations

Infection types and intensities in the <i>Nosema</i> spp. infected colonies.

<p>Infection types and intensities in the <i>Nosema</i> spp. infected colonies.</p

Cage tests.

<p><b>The average <i>N</i>. <i>ceranae</i> infection intensity observed during consecutive days of cage experiments conducted in 2014 and 2015.</b> Data obtained from daily sampling from the second day after the infection (4-day-old workers) to the end of each experiment in 2014 and 2015. Diamond shapes (♦) represent means while error bars indicate standard deviation.</p

Infection types and intensities in the <i>Nosema</i> spp. infected colonies.

<p>Infection types and intensities in the <i>Nosema</i> spp. infected colonies.</p

Fascinating fructophilic lactic acid bacteria associated with various fructose-rich niches

Fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB) are recently described group of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that prefer fructose instead of glucose as a carbon source. FLAB have been isolated from fructose-rich niches such as flowers, fruits, fermented fruits, and gastrointestinal tracts of insects whose diet is based on fructose. These bacteria are divided into obligate and facultative fructophilc lactobacilli based on biochemical features. All FLAB are heterofermentative microorganisms, which during fermentation of carbohydrates, in addition to lactic acid, produce also acetic acid, and alcohol as end-products. The fructophilic bacteria, inhabiting the honeybee guts positively impact the health of their hosts, improve their longevity, and are promising probiotic candidates. These symbionts of honeybees play a key role in the production of honey by bees and are present in a large number in fresh honey. The combination of osmolarity with antibacterial, and therapeutic properties of these bacteria make fresh honey optimal alternative for future wound healing

Field tests.

<p><b>Seasonality in the <i>N</i>. <i>ceranae</i> infection intensity observed from March to October in naturally infected honey bee colonies.</b> Data obtained from measurements conducted on a monthly basis for the first five days of each month from March to October in 2014 and 2015. The dotted line represents a linear regression. Diamond shapes (♦) represent means while error bars indicate standard deviation.</p

Natural Substances, Probiotics, and Synthetic Agents in the Treatment and Prevention of Honeybee Nosemosis

Honeybees are important pollinators, but they are continuously exposed to a variety of fungal and bacterial diseases. One of the various diseases affecting honeybees is nosemosis caused by microsporidia from the Nosema genus. Honeybees are mainly infected through consumption of infected food or faeces containing Nosema spp. spores. Nosemosis causes damage to the middle intestine epithelium, which leads to food absorption disorders and honeybee malnutrition. Fumagillin, i.e., the antibiotic used to treat nosemosis, was withdrawn in 2016 from EU countries. Therefore, researchers have been looking for compounds of both natural and synthetic origin to fight nosemosis. Such compounds should not have a negative impact on bees but is expected to inhibit the disease. Natural compounds tested against nosemosis include, e.g., essential oils (EOs), plant extracts, propolis, and bacterial metabolites, while synthetic substances tested as anti-nosemosis agents are represented by porphyrins, vitamins, antibiotics, phenolic, ascorbic acids, and others. This publication presents an 18-year overview of various studies of a number of natural and synthetic compounds used in the treatment and prevention of nosemosis cited in PubMed, GoogleScholar, and CrossRef