Studies On Some Secondary Products Of Honeybees:

Mohamed Osama Abdel-azem El-shaarawy

The present study was carried out in the apiary ofEl-A.mar , Kalubia , Honey bee Research’ , Minst 0of Agric. , El-Doky ,Giza and Organic Chemistry Dept. ,Faculty of Science, Ain-Shams University. 1-Clearly, an in-depth experimental assessment ofthe efficiancy of two hup~ids of honeybees_ as collecters ofpropolis t bess-wax ~rom old combe and pollens weredesirable. In this study we conducted the chemical compositionof propolis and its biological activitiesoAccordingly, this studY addressed tlle followingquestions for the secondary products of honeybees inEgypt. l)- Do bees of the two races (F1Italian-bee s andFlCarniolan-bees) have similar rates o~ propolis ,--pollen and brood-rearing activities?(2)-Do bees ofboth races collect similar amounts of propolis andpollens ? (3)- kre the chemical of Egyptian propolissimilar other chemioal of propolis produced in othercountries. J.1. (4)- DoEgyptian propolis has differentthe bio1ogica.1 activities? (5) Which methods can beobtaned. the propolis and bees-wax from old combs.I- ? R 0 POL IS:Fropolis can harvested by beekeepers only byscraping the walls of the hives , when changing theirhives equipments , or when replacing combs_ The amountof propolis harvested per colony depends on many factors.The raoe of bees , strength of the Rive , plants andother vegetation, e~her~rom bUds such as(poplar ) orfrom bark 9 :”.11 time of need, however , bees will collectresinous sustitute materials such as pitch and ohaul kingcompounds. Also I~the yield of prpolis depends on weatherconditions and colo~ needs.The main topics which were taken in considerationin this study were :1)- The e ompar-Lson between two races ” ” F1 Italian -bees and Fl Carniolan-bees t) QI:l ·.. ~the following points:a)- Effect of different seasons on the rate of gatheringpropolis activity. b)- Sealed brood-rearing activity duringa year of study, were conducte d to study their effect onpropolis gathering activity _ c)- Some aspects aboutthe chemioal composition of Egyptian propolis - d)- ntudiesthe biological activities of the propo~is , which concludedits untibacterial, anti:fu.ngal activity, treatingBraula coeca and seed germination of wheat and broadbean by different extracts of propolis _1- The amounts of Propolis Harvester1 by the TwoitJ-prids:Fl Italian bees gathered 72.29 g/colony duringtoo yea:r of study, while F1 Carnio1an bees gathered only46.60 g/colony. The highest of propolis wesegathered duringJuly and August ( 10.71 and 16.J3 g) and were (6.71a.nd 7.40 g ) for the F1 Italian bees and F1 Carniolanbees, respectively. The lowest amourrt: was gathered inDsoembe’r and January ( 1Q 94 and 2.59 g ) for F1 Italianbees and (1080 and 1.88 g) for Fl Carniolan bees,reiSpectively.During the different seasons Italian bees gathered19009 t 31059 t 12.32 and 9’~69g propolis during Spring,s~ , Autumn and Winter , resPectively. Less amountst ofpropolis were gatherei ( 14.17 ,18.10 ,7.60 and 6.55 gby Fl Carniolan bees during ~our seasons ~. respectively.2- Brood Rearing Activity in The TwoRaces : The amount of sealed br-oods measuz-emerrt s forhoneybee workers during the year of study were 16604.76square inches and 12268053 in2 by F1 Italian bees andF1 Carniolan bees, respectively. The results should tiatthe :,1111ghest activity on brood-rearin were in Spring(5981062 and 4432089 in2 ) by PI Italian bees andF1 Carniolan bees , respectively.)- Chemical Composition o~ Propolis : This investigation deals with identification theohemioal constituents of Egyptian crude propolis • Thechemical constituents of the extraction obtained bydifferent solvents such as water, ethanol, has been:i.ndentified as known as bees-wax, sakura.netin( 4, 5-dihydroxy-7 -methoxy:f’lavone) .and hydroxy alkyloinamic acid derivative.The investigation deals also , with extraction~he crude propolis with different solvents such aslight petrolium (40-60 , 60-80, 80-110 0 ) , penzeneand ethyl alcohol, respectivelyo The residue obtainedat’ter evaporation the solvents was dissolved in ether.!Ilhe chemical analysis obtained the numbers of materialsfrom 5, 6 , 8 , 10 , 11 and 12 were oily matter and~olid prolcts remarked by 7 , 9 and 13 •While soxhlet extraction with light petrolium ,benzene, ethanol and acitie acid were identified asbees-wax and flavone derivatives ( 13 and 14) alsowe identified some volatile oil and inorganic matterand ashes.4- The Biologioal P.roperties of Propolis :In these exPeriments propolis extraction andsome its ~ractions were used on different organisms~a)- Antibacterial Activity :The aim of this work was to prove the effect ofpropolis extractions in-vitro as antibacterial substance’0. The alcohol , acetone and ’Vaterextracts wereused against some food poison bacteria ( Staphylococcusaureus , Salmonella typhomriuIE , Salmonella newportIEscherichia coli 078 J Escherichia coli III andP.roteus vulgaris ). Water propolis extract has anobvious bacteriostatic for the above bacteria. On theother hand, ethanol propolis extract and acetone propolisextract have a slight effect.b) - Antifungal Activity :~he derivatives of propolis such as sakurantin ,cinamic acid and flavone were subjected to the stUdyof their biological effect on fungus AJ.ternaria ap. 0Sakurantin decreased the length of germ tube withincreasing its concentrations, it completely inhiptedboth spore germination and germ-tube growth at concentrationof 960 ppm • Cinamic acid and flavone indicate dgrowth promotion properties.c) - Treating Braula. caeca by different Propolis ext. :All extracts of propolis ( water, ethanol , andacetone ) reduced the numbers of honeybee liue (Braulacaeca ), which attaches with queens honeybee.Queens were found free from the lice af’ter seven daysfrom the initial of treatment.d)- Effect of Propolis extractions on Seed Germination:Water, ethyl alcohol, and acetone of propolisextracts and flavone fraction were Used in this experiment, Water extract of propolis had inhibitory actionin first stages of germination , then germination percentincreased. Ethanol and acetone of propolis extract hadan inhi~itory effect througout the germination periodsof wheat seeds. While flavoniod fraction showerl inhipitoryeffect at the concentration of 4000 and 2000 ppm,but at the concentration of 1000 ppm , the germinationpercentage was higher than in the control in wheat seeds.The seedling length of weat showed that at theconcentration of 1000 ppm and 2000 ppm were more lengththan the controlo While the propolis extraction and:flavoniods of 4000 ppm were less than the eontroloThe treating of broad bean seeds indicated thatthe propolis erlraetes and flavones showed an inhibitionthe germination than the control; ..,-<:.100 t~l9’ 3~:Je’ t:rend was:found in the seedlinJ length except water propolis extractwhich stimulate the growth properties on seedlingsoII - :BEES - WAX :The experiments showed that the amounts of bees-wax 79 extractes were 97027% J 76013 % ,48022 % and 39043 %for one-year old coma J two-years old ,three-years oldcombs and over-three~years old respectively.The amounts of bees wax obtained from a comboverthree-years old were nearly similar weight of two newfoundation sheets of wax • So we mantioned that theusing old combs as economic source cr crude wax :. .andpropolis in the apiary. While the amounts of propoliscould be extracted from old combs is higher than thepropolis obtained from the new combs, with an averageof 1.60 % , 2.62 % , 41’.70 % and 6F~42% for one-year ,two-ye ars,. th:Cee-years and over-three-years, respectively.2- Estimating !ropolis and Bees Wax amounts at the differe-n-tOur experiments indicated that the bees-wax extractsfrom the uber part of the combswas more than the middleand lower parts 0 While for the amounts of propolis extractsthe middle Part was higher than the other partso1- Stored Pollen Activity sThe present study showed that , stored pollenin June and July give more amounts of pollen duringa year of study , while less amounts recorded inDecember and January. F1 ,:Italian-bees stored morepQllen than the F1 ’arniolan bees2~ Relatioship between Pollen gathering activityand Propolis collection activity: .Dat indicated that the F1 Ital~an bees colle tedthe largest amount of stored pollen’ 2946.02 _±n2 ,and1$~69 g of propo1is , while F1 Carniolan bees collected2191.21 in2 of stored pollen and 14.17 g of propolis inSJring. The amounts of stored pollen and propolis collectedwere 241j:]Cl75in2 ,31.19 g , 572057 in2 J 110’2 g and14l}’074 in2 9029 g for F1 Italian bees. These resultsWIllS more than the Carniolan F1hyprid be es •3- Follens found in P.ropo1is extractedIn this experiment the phot agraphic of propolisextracted indicated that the difrerent pollens ~oundin the propolis , some of each was found to digested.Therefore, it oan be concluded that honeybeeproducts such as propolis , bees-wax and stored pollenhas their grait importance either to honeybees themselfesor to the human being •The present work has througbn the light Jespecially upon certain aspects of propolis whichprevious researches had partially neglected •I hope , that the coming yeaxs will show usmore and more about those secondary products includedin the st.lin and also about other products of themorve1 ous creature. ”The Honeybeetr•