Propolis extract application in agriculture

Propolis has been ground in various areas of science, but its application in agriculture, is a recent and almost unknown subject. In agronomy work mainly seek to explore the antibiotic and antifungal properties of propolis, but other uses have been proposed, such as plant nutrition, pest control (such as mites) and even reducing water stress in plants. Despite numerous utilities proven and proposals, there are many questions, particularly for the preparation of the extract, most appropriate chemical composition for a particular use, application forms, crude propolis extract in percentages, dose minimum efficiency, efficiency, etc. Given the above, the purpose of this literature review is to present the origin and chemical composition of propolis, making methodology of propolis extract, more effective dose in the control of fungi, plant pathogenic bacteria and reduce water stress. During the study, it can be seen that the difference in propolis composition occurs mainly due to the variability of vegetable composition in the vicinity of the hive, the bees forage and chemical composition is quite complex and variable in terms of both concentration and chemicals gifts. In the extraction, there are still many gaps to be studied, including the best way to obtain the extract, with questions about the best puller, with lack of consensus in the literature. On the efficiency of this technology, there are numerous studies with promising results, which allow implementation of technology in the field and these jobs concentrated in coffee crops, beans, cucumber and tomato