III.1 A. dorsata and T. itama bee bread composition Laboratory analysis of A. dorsata bee bread showed that percentage of protein reached 13.82% (wet weight) and 19.96% (dry weight), lipid 7.80% (dry weight), fiber showed a value of 3.38% (dry weight) and 44.52% (wet weight). All of components in A. dorsata bee bread are placed in the range given by Compos et al., (2008) (Table 1).
Table 1. Detailed composition of A. dorsatabee bread (dried mass).
Main components Content (% of dry weight) Test Result Range Result (min-max) (Compos et al., 2008)
Proteins 19.96 10 – 40
Lipids 7.80 1 – 13
Fibre 3.28 0.3 – 20
Ash
Carbohydrate 5.94
25.60 2 – 6
15-33
Based on the amino acid analysis showed that A. dorsata and T. itama …show more content…
dorsata`s and T. itama`s bee bread were identified, i.e alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, tannins, and saponins (Table 3). Saponin is a compound in the form of glycosides in which are widespread on higher plants and is a complex group of natural compounds, in which has mass and large molecules (Burger et.al., 1998). Many saponins work as an antimicrobial. Meanwhile, flavonoids act as antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, antihypertensive, stimulates the formation of estrogen and treat liver dysfunction (Robinson, 1995). In the mean time, tannins in plants are considered to have a primary function as a repellent plant to eating animals (such as insect) because it tastes awful. For the mean time, steroids are compounds that have biological functions that are very important for anti-inflammatory (Harborne, 1999), antibacterial or antiviral activity (Robinson, …show more content…
dorsata`s and T. itama`s bee bread are placed in the intermediate/middle category. This phenomenon probably happened because the structure of bee bread formation are coming from many types of pollen in the tropical forest that have such diversity of types of pollen. Therefore, when the pollen is taken and stored in the hive, it does not only take from one or two types of good quality pollen (pollen which has minimum 18% of crude protein) but also come from low quality pollen (pollen which has less than 18% of crude protein). As a consequence, the crude protein value given above is a average of all pollen. However, this results contrast to some of the results in Figure 1 which has the specific pollen plant. This is presumably because the ecosystem is used for beekeeping in the northern hemisphere (Europe) are relatively homogeneous and honey bees used as pollinators agents at some commodities in figure