Abstract

Pollen grains present in the honeys, produced during the season 2001-2002, in hives of the IV Region of Chile, were identified by microscopic analysis in order to determine their botanical origin. The frequency of pollen grains allowed us to determine the relative importance of native and introduced species as nectar source. The content of proteins, reducing sugars and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was also quantified, with the purpose of verifying the quality of every honey sample. Between the introduced species used most frequently by honeybees (Apis mellifera), Brassica rapa, appears to be present in 11 of the 13 studied honey samples. This species along with Medicago sativa were the only ones to produced unifloral honeys. Sixtyfive percent of the used species as nectar source corresponded to native species, which only gave origin to multifloral honeys. The content of proteins (0,073-0,67%) and reducing sugars (72,36-78,68%) were within the ranks previously reported worldwide. The good quality of the honeys produced in this Region of Chile was certified by the low content of HMF, always below 15,9 mg·Kg-1 in all the samples.