doiSerbia

The antimicrobial activity of honey, bee pollen loads and beeswax from Slovakia

Kacániová Miroslava (Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Vuković N. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kragujevac)
Chlebo R. (Department of Poultry Science and Small Animals Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Haščík P. (Department of Green’s Biotechnics, Horticulture and Lendscape Engineering Faculty, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Rovná Katarína (Department of Green’s Biotechnics, Horticulture and Lendscape Engineering Faculty, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Cubon J. (Department of Green’s Biotechnics, Horticulture and Lendscape Engineering Faculty, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Džugan Malgorzata (Department of Animal Products Evaluation and Processing, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic)
Pasternakiewicz Anna (Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland)

The aim of this study was to test the antimicrobial activity of propolis, bee pollen loads and beeswax samples collected in the year 2009 from two locations in Slovakia to pathogenic bacteria, microscopic fungi and yeasts. The antimicrobial effect of the bee product samples were tested using the agar well diffusion method. For extraction, 99.9% and 70% methanol (aqueous, v/v) and 96% and 70% ethanol (aqueous, v/v) were used. Five different strains of bacteria, i.e. Listeria monocytogenes ccM 4699, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ccM 1960; Staphylococcus aureus ccM 3953; Salmonella enterica ccM 4420, Escherichia coli ccM 3988, three different strains of microscopic fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, and seven different strains of yeasts Candida krusei, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis, Geotrichum candidum, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, were tested. After 48 hours S. aureus was the bacterium most sensitive to the 70% ethanol extract of pollen, A. fumigatus was the most sensitive microscopic fungus (70% ethanol) and C. glabrata the most sensitive yeast (70% methanol). Microorganisms most sensitive to propolis extracts were L. monocytogenes, A. fumigatus (70% ethanol) and G. candidum (70% methanol). Most sensitive to beeswax extracts were E. coli, A. niger and C. tropicalis.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, bee products, propolis, bee pollen, beeswax, pathogenic bacteria, microscopic fungi, yeasts