Chemical composition and botanical evaluation of dried bee pollen pellets

Ten samples of different colors of dried bee pollen pellets were collected in the south region of Brazil and analyzed for: moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, total carotenoids, beta-carotene, vitamin C and botanical evaluation. The botanical origin of the pollen pellets was obtained using microscopic pollen identification of color-dependent subsamples. The results obtained had an average of 7.4% moisture, 20% proteins, 6% lipids, 2.2% ash, absence of vitamin C and beta-carotene and presence of total carotenoids. The color of the pollen pellets was not determinant for taxa, identification due to the fact that most of the pellets named as monofloral samples presented two or more botanical taxa. The most frequent plant families from a total of 17 taxa identified were Arecaceae, Asteraceae and Myrtaceae. In conclusion, due to the intraspecific differences in compounds from the taxa collected, the data obtained using chemical and microscopic analysis can play an important role in the quality control of dry bee pollen pellets if the samples are mostly monofloral. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.