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Mangifera indica as propolis source: what exactly do bees collect?
Milena Popova1, Boryana Trusheva1, Nia Ilieva1
1Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
BMC Research Notes
|December 14, 2021
Summary
Mango trees provide two sources for propolis: bark resin and fruit latex. Bees utilize both, but in varying proportions, resulting in similar chemical profiles with quantitative differences.
Area of Science:
- Botany
- Analytical Chemistry
- Apiculture
Background:
- The mango tree (Mangifera indica) is a known botanical source of propolis in tropical regions.
- Bees collect propolis from mango trees, utilizing either tree bark resin or fruit latex.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the chemical profile of mango tree bark resin with propolis samples.
- To clarify the significance of mango resin as a propolis source.
Main Methods:
- Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of ethanol extracts.
- Silylation of extracts prior to GC-MS analysis.
- Comparison of chemical profiles between mango resin and propolis from stingless bees and Apis mellifera.
Main Results:
- Identified 25 common compounds in mango resin and propolis, including fatty acids, cardanols, cardols, anacardic acids, triterpenes, and cycloartane triterpenic acids.
- Confirmed the presence of alk(en)yl phenols and anacardic acids in mango tree bark resin for the first time.
- Observed identical qualitative chemical compositions but significant quantitative differences across all samples.
Conclusions:
- Bees utilize both mango bark resin and fruit latex for propolis production.
- Different bee species collect these two sources in varying proportions.
- Mango resin is a significant contributor to the chemical diversity of propolis.
