Irak'in kuzey bölgesinde yetiştirilen arilarin farkli beslenme yöntem lerinin bal ve ari ekmeğinin kimyasal içeriği

This study investigates the effect of feeding honey bees with different fruits as alternative nutritional sources and evaluates the impact of these feeding practices on the chemical composition and trace-element profile of bee products collected from the northern region of Iraq. The study addresses the growing concern that conventional sugar-based feeding weakens bee immunity and negatively affects product quality, while fruits provide natural bioactive compounds such as minerals, vitamins, organic acids, and polyphenols. Honey bee colonies were fed various fruits including orange, lemon, watermelon, plum, and dates. Natural honey samples were collected from different geographical locations for comparison. In addition, bee bread was produced experimentally using pollen combined with brewer's yeast and apple cider vinegar. A total of 41 samples of honey, pollen, bee bread, and propolis were analyzed. Minerals and trace elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), vitamin, sterol, phenolic and flavonoid compound, carbohydrate profiles, including fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose, were evaluated using HPLC. Determination of total phenolic (TPC), flavonoid content (TFC) and proline by UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. Fruit-fed colonies produced honey and bee bread with better mineral balance, higher nutritional quality, and less chemical degradation than sugar-fed colonies. Heavy metals were not detected or were below international safety limits, supporting fruit-based feeding as a safer, more sustainable method that improves bee health and product quality. Overall richness in flavonoids and phenolic acids ranked: Propolis » Pollen ≈ Bee bread » Natural honey » Fruit honey » Mix (honey+fruit+sugar) » Candy » Sugar honey. High-quality natural honey came from Akre and Duhok, with lemon and watermelon being the best fruit honeys. For pollen/bee bread from Duhok, DPo and DPe performed best, and for propolis, DiPr (Dinarta) was the top sample, enabling consistent evaluation using literature-based methods.