Comparison of some biological activities of propolis and bee bread samples obtained from Apis mellifera Anatoliaca and its Muğla and Efe ecotypes

Abstract

Honey and other bee products have been extensively researched in recent years due to the demand for natural products with nutritional and therapeutic qualities, as they contain high levels of biologically active compounds and valuable nutrients. In this study, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities of bee bread and prop-olis samples produced after colony development by bees of different races and ecotypes accepted to core colonies in the same location were evaluated. Total phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant content values were the the highest in propolis samples, especially in propolis from Apis mellifera anatoliaca. The most effective results were also recorded in almost all of the other tests performed for the same sample, such as DPPH free radical scavenging, lipid peroxidation inhibition, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity. In addition, according to the results of phenolic component analysis, the amount of phenolic substance detected in the sample belonging to this species was higher. It was surpris-ing that propolis samples obtained from Efe and Mugla ecotypes showed higher values in the test for chelating activity with Fe. The values calculated for the bee breads in all examined parameters were lower than the propolis samples. The highest values were calculated for the bee bread harvested from the efe ecotype. None of the tested bee breads showed antimicrobial activity on selected pathogenic bacteria. In this study, it was evaluated how the differences arising from both race and ecotype and the type of bee product reflected on biological activities.