Determination of lead and cadmium contents in some bee products collected from north Upper Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt

2 Biology Departement, AlDarb University College, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

         Bee products have been a good bioindicator for environmental monitoring to measure pollution with heavy metals as the accumulation of pollutants in the different products of honey bee colonies. The main objective of this research is to evaluate pollution levels of heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in bee bread and old, new bee wax in apiaries spread across different regions of Upper Egypt. The finding showed that samples collected from apiaries in industrial, electric power, and quick road regions contained a higher concentration of Pb and Cd than samples collected from rural villages. It was found that high lead levels in bee bread, old bee wax, and new bee wax were 1.17±0.4, 2.25±0.35, and 1.38±0.35 mg/kg, respectively, in industrial regions, while the lowest concentrations in rural regions were 0.29±0.05, 0.87±0.20, and 0.25±0.12 mg/kg of bee bread, old bee wax, and new bee wax, respectively. High concentrations of Cd were obtained in samples collected from industrial areas near electricity and road traffic, respectively. While the rural regions with the lowest concentration of Cd were 0.06±0.05, 0.04±0.03, and 0.03±0.02 mg/kg for bee bread and bee wax, old and new, respectively. These results are a very important indicator for knowing the regions least exposed to polluting with Pb and Cd to obtain pure bee products and bee colonies healthy fitness.

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