The impact of different beehives on propolis production and content (phenolic content)

This study conducted to determine the impact of wood, styrofoam and plastic beehives on propolis production and phenolic content under the ecological conditions of Van province in Turkey, a total of 15 F1 Caucasian (Apis mellifera caucasica) crossbred were randomly distributed to the study groups. Considering the honey production season, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of propolis samples that were collected in three different periods (beginning of the season, honey production season and at the end of the honey production season) were examined after determination of production amounts. Total phenolic (TP), total tannin (TT) content and FRAP values were also included in the study conducted on 14 phenolic compounds with HPLC. The highest propolis production was determined in wood beehives (6.720 ± 11.805 g), followed by styrofoam (5.140 ± 5.466 g) and plastic beehives (1.338 ± 1.136 g) in the study. The period-based production ranking was 9.287 ± 11.362 g for end hte season, 2.884 ± 4.478 g for the season and 1.233 ± 0.799 g for before the seeason. Duncan and LSD multiple comparison test, which were used for comparison of hive groups and periods, demonstrated that the differences were statistically significant (P <0.05). Furthermore, the highest TP and FRAP values were found in plastic beehives, indicating that the propolis phenolic content and antioxidant capacity varied with hive type and collection period.