BOTANICAL ORIGIN AND ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY OF BEE POLLEN FROM EASTERN CROATIA

Bee products are considered to be a good resource of bioactive substances such as flavonoids, phenolic acids or terpenoids. Bee pollen is collected and transported by the bees as granules or pollen-loads and reserved as nutrient resource for honeycomb. Because of its nutritional value and healthful properties, bee pollen is valuable product that can increase the beekeepers’ income. In this work botanical origin and antioxidant capacity of bee pollen collected in eastern Croatia in April and May 2018 were examined. Botanical origin determined by palynological analysis showed that eight out of twelve analysed samples had > 45% of the pollen grains coming from one family while in one sample Amorpha fruticosa pollen grains dominated by 99%. Total phenolic content, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity determined by the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were determined spectrophotometrically. Total phenolic content varied between 7.08 – 15.27 mg GAE/g, total flavonoids were from 1.34 to 4.25 mg QE/g while FRAP value ranged from 51.97 to 83.56 µmol Fe2+/g. The highest antioxidant capacity was determined in Amorpha fructicosa and Salix spp. unifloral bee pollen samples