Beekeeping in Brazil: A Bibliographic Review

Karuane Saturnino da Silva Araújo, Bruno Machado Araújo, Diego Carvalho Viana, Jailson Honorato, Virlane Kelly Lima Hunaldo, Ila Raquel Mello Cardoso, Dark Luzia dos Santos Neto, Leonardo Moreira de Oliveira, Eline Pacheco, Cláudia Lima Dias, Ivaneide de Oliveira Nascimento, Djany Souza Silva, Gerbeli de Mattos Salgado, José de Ribamar Macedo Costa, Jaisane Santos Melo Lobato and Sandra Maria Botelho Mariano

### Abstract

Brazil presents favorable conditions for beekeeping, having a suitable climate; native flowering plants with great potential for the production of honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly; and bees adapted to our conditions, tolerant to the main apicultural diseases and highly productive. Through the meliponiculture, the conservation of mainly native forest areas is allowed; therefore, they are the best environments for the creation of native bees and production of by-products of the beehive with quality. The stingless bees are very sensitive to any disturbance due to anthropogenic action. A systematic bibliographical review was carried out in different electronic databases, through descriptors referring to beekeeping in Brazil. The identification of articles and their inclusion occurred between January 2018 and April 2018. The bibliographic research was conducted in the following electronic databases: (1) Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), (2) Public Library of Science (PLOS) Biology, and (3) ScienceDirect. In order to help in the process of standardization of bee products and traceability of the production chain, it was possible to draw a profile of the main bioactive substances of the beehive products of Brazil. It was also possible to relate the benefits of an adequate management of beekeeping and meliponiculture in Brazil.

Keywords: beekeeping management, meliponiculture, beehive products, propolis

### 1. Introduction

Bee products such as honey, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis have a wide range of use. In addition to human nutrition, bee products can be used in traditional medicine [1].

Brazil has favorable conditions for bees and has a great variety of vegetation from which bees can collect resins, which cause a great chemical diversity among bee

**60**

*Beekeeping - New Challenges*

Research. 2018;**57**(3):438-443

colonies. Insects. 2018;**9**:55

via sublimation. Journal of Apicultural

[46] Ayoub ZN, Ahmed DS, Abdulla M, Mosa MH. Impact of *Varroa* mite infestation on the mandibular and hypopharyngeal glands of honey bee workers, Kurdistan, Iraq. Acarina.

2015;**23**(1):92-97

[38] Gregorc A, Alburaki M, Sampson B, Knight PR. Toxicity of selected Acaricides to honey bees (*Apis* 

*mellifera*) and Varroa (*Varroa destructor* Anderson and Trueman) and their use in controlling *Varroa* within honey bee

[39] Suleiman IS. Biotechnical methods for *Varroa destructor* control in honey bee (*Apis mellifera*) colonies [MSc thesis]. University of Duhok; 2016

[40] Panziera D, van Langevelde F, Blacquière T. Varroa sensitive hygiene contributes to naturally selected *Varroa* resistance in honey bees. Journal of Apicultural Research.

[41] Kanbar G, Engels W. Ultrastructure and bacterial infection of wounds in honey bee (*Apis mellifera*) pupae punctured by *Varroa* mites. Parasitology

[42] Schneider P, Drescher W. *Varroa jacobsoni* oud. Auf das schlupfgewicht,

entwicklung Der hypopharynxdrusen und die lebensdauer Von Apis mellifera.

[43] Feng M, Fang Y, Li J. Proteomic analysis of honey bee worker (*Apis mellifera*) hypopharyngeal gland development. BMC Genomics.

[44] Teixeira EW, Chen YP, Message D, Pettis J, Evans JD. Virus infections in Brazilian honey bees. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 2008;**99**:117-119

[45] Cruz-Landim C, Mello MLS. Postembryonic changes in *Melipona quadrifasciata* anthidioides lep

(Hymenoptera: Apidae). Development of the salivary gland system. Journal of Morphology. 1967;**123**(4):481-502

2017;**56**(5):635-642

Research. 2003;**90**:349-354

Die gewichtsentwicklung, die

Apidologie. 1987;**18**:101-110

2009;**10**:645

products collected in different regions and different seasons [2]. The chemical diversity aspect of bee products demonstrates that prior to their use they must be chemically standardized to ensure quality, efficacy, and safety, and thus it is possible to correlate the type of product with its therapeutic application [3].

management), meliponicultura (meliponiculture), produtos da colméia (products of

and in the world, searched in the databases and with the descriptors mentioned above. Of the total of articles published between the years 2013 and 2018, 4149 works were related to the subject of beekeeping. Articles were repealed because they were repeated in other languages, and products from Brazil were not evaluated. For the

Only articles containing beekeeping studies in Brazil between the years 2013 and 2018 were selected for review. As can be seen in Figure 1, the number of published papers on beekeeping is relevant. However, we can see below the index

Logical framework of the systematic review, studies on beekeeping in Brazil between the years 2013 and 2018.

present revision of the scientific literature, 25 papers were selected.

Selection and analysis of publications: for the selection of articles, a personal study form was prepared with the following information: author and year, title, study development period, federative unit, city and area of research, study design, descriptor used to locate the publication, objective, and main results. An inclusion criterion was used in which the selected articles had to be original, published in international or national journals, in English or Portuguese, between 2013 and 2018, from the subareas of health sciences, medicine and health sciences, research articles, and open articles accessed and indexed in one of the bases previously mentioned. Papers containing data on beekeeping in Brazil were selected for review. Sampling: a total of 10,645 scientific papers on apiculture were identified in Brazil

the hive), and própolis (propolis).

Beekeeping in Brazil: A Bibliographic Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80548

3. Results

Figure 1.

63

Several studies point to health-related benefits in propolis use. In the Brazilian Northeast, studies demonstrate, the benefits of the use of red propolis in renal lesions include beneficial alterations in the histopathological aspect of the renal tissue and potential clinical benefits in the use of this propolis to protect the kidneys against ischemic acute renal failure [4]. Tetragonisca angustula is a stingless bee distributed widely in Brazil and Mexico. The biological activity of Tetragonisca angustula honey, particularly its antimicrobial activity, has been well documented and studied, demonstrating good antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria [5, 6]. Honey produced in the Eastern Amazon, Brazil, was reported with the total content of phenolic compounds higher than those already reported in the literature, as well as high antioxidant activity [7].

Brazilian vegetation offers a large amount of chemical compounds through its diversity in which products of apicultural origin can offer great potential in the quality of hive products produced in the country, since Brazil has some of the largest biomes in terms of biodiversity and total area. In the neotropics, the flora through the biodiversity existing in them is incomparable in relation to the other existing biomes, being the flora existing in Brazil extremely rich with diverse floral morphology which attracts a great amount of pollinators. The Amazon stands out as being the main maintainer of the planet's greatest diversity [8].

Most conservation decisions occur at national or regional spatial scales, where information becomes useful at such decision-making scales, which is essential to guide conservation practice. Conservation practices such as meliponiculture tend to aid the conservationist effect of the sustainable use of Brazilian vegetation. It is also worth noting that Brazil is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and, consequently, use and conservation decisions have impacts on these local populations [9].

Through the meliponiculture the conservation of mainly native forest areas is allowed; therefore, they are the best environments for the creation of native bees and production of by-products of the beehive with quality. The stingless bees are very sensitive to any disturbance due to anthropogenic action.

The Management of beekeeping identifies measures against the specific risks in this activity is very important for increasing productivity, income, and production and promoting beekeeping [10]. In this context, a systematic bibliographical review was carried outin different electronic databases, through descriptors referring to beekeepingin Brazil.

#### 2. Body: research methods

Study design: the study of systematic bibliographic review in different scientific electronic databases is through descriptors referring to beekeeping in Brazil. The identification of articles and their inclusion occurred between January and April 2018.

Electronic databases: the bibliographic research was conducted in the following electronic databases: (1) Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), (2) Public Library of Science (PLOS) Biology, and (3) ScienceDirect. Additional information was obtained from the manual search based on the references listed in the articles included in the review.

Search strategy: the searches were conducted using descriptors cataloged in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) and in the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), in Portuguese and English contained in the title or in the summaries of the studies. The combination of terms used together or separately in the respective databases (SciELO, PLOS Biology, ScienceDirect) were gestão de apicultura (beekeeping

#### Beekeeping in Brazil: A Bibliographic Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80548

management), meliponicultura (meliponiculture), produtos da colméia (products of the hive), and própolis (propolis).

Selection and analysis of publications: for the selection of articles, a personal study form was prepared with the following information: author and year, title, study development period, federative unit, city and area of research, study design, descriptor used to locate the publication, objective, and main results. An inclusion criterion was used in which the selected articles had to be original, published in international or national journals, in English or Portuguese, between 2013 and 2018, from the subareas of health sciences, medicine and health sciences, research articles, and open articles accessed and indexed in one of the bases previously mentioned. Papers containing data on beekeeping in Brazil were selected for review.

Sampling: a total of 10,645 scientific papers on apiculture were identified in Brazil and in the world, searched in the databases and with the descriptors mentioned above. Of the total of articles published between the years 2013 and 2018, 4149 works were related to the subject of beekeeping. Articles were repealed because they were repeated in other languages, and products from Brazil were not evaluated. For the present revision of the scientific literature, 25 papers were selected.
