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IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION ON HEAVY METALS CONTENT OF HONEY

Hortensia Radulescu

Abstract

Honey, produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera) through nectar plants processing, has a distinct composition depending on the floral sources, regional and climatic conditions. Heavy metals in honey are of interest mainly for quality control and nutritional aspect along with the estimation of the potential environmental contamination. In order to estimate the impact of air pollution on the honey quality, the level of some selected heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, iron, zinc and manganese in honey was assessed. The purpose of this study was to establish the content of the selected heavy metals in several honey samples collected directly from bee colonies in Timi? County (Romania) and also to find a link between the content of heavy metals found in honey samples and the beehives location. A significant source for honey contamination with heavy metals is the location of the beehives in areas with heavy car traffic or intensive agricultural practices, where air pollution is high. The studied varieties of honey were Linden Tree, Acacia, Amorpha, Rape, Sun Flower and Mixed Flowers honey samples with differentiated located hives in Timi? County: Timi?oara, Chevere?u-Mare, Saco?u Mare, Otve?ti and Pi?chia. The varied placement of the beehives allows to establish the influence of the pollution sources on the content of heavy metals in the harvested honey samples. The heavy metals content in honey samples was analyzed by using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The results showed that the heavy metal content altered and depended on the floral sources of the honey variety and the beehives location. The highest lead content was found in Linden Tree honey, the highest chromium content was established for the acacia honey samples and the highest level of iron, cadmium and zinc was measured again for the acacia honey samples from beehives located in places with heavy car traffic and intense air pollution. These research findings helped us to conclude that the acceptable level of heavy metals present in honey is influenced not only by the variety of honey but much more by the location of the beehives where from the honey proceeds showing therefore the importance of air pollution and its impact on the heavy metals content in honey.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018v/4.3/s06.035

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