Composição físico-química de amostras de pólen coletado por abelhas Africanizadas Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera:Apidae) em Piracicaba, Estado de São Paulo

Abstract

Pollen samples were collected from March, 1999 to March, 2000, in Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, from 5 beehives of Africanized Apis mellifera by using front pollen collectors with openings 4 mm diameter. The aim of this study was to determine the physico-chemical composition of pollen. Chemical composition of samples was determined at the Laboratório de Apicultura of the Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiróz", Universidade de São Paulo. The following mean values were obtained: 21.5% proteins; 2.8% ashes; 23.6% moisture; 76.3% of dry residue; 3.5% lipids; 28.4% of total sugars; 20.7 mEq kg-1 of pollen of titrate acidity and pH 5.1. The statistical analyses considered all data concerning the different days and comparison of the monthly means were made by Tukey's test (P<0.05). There were significant differences along the year, to the different parameters studied, except for ashes which percentage did not present significant variation.