From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
  

>How do we know this?  Are there easily available references?

The original work was done by Chevtchik in 1950.  I don't have a copy of that study, but I do have Microbiology of Pollen and Bee Bread: The Yeasts by Martha Gilliam
Apidologie, 1979, 10 (1), 43-53

(I've broken this up into paragraphs for clarity)

"Chevtchik (1950) conducted microbiological analyses of fresh pollen and pollen stored in comb cells and reported four phases of microbial development in fermenting pollen that occured during seven days from the time of the appearance of lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, indole-producing bacteria (Escherichua), and sporulating aerobic bacteria.

The first phase lasted 12 hours and was characterized by the development of a heterogenous group of microorganisms including yeasts.  

In the second phase, anaerobic  lactic acid bacteria (Streptococcus) utilized growth factors produced by the yeasts and putrefactive bacteria and lowered the pH of the pollen.  

The third phase was charaacterized by the disappearance of Streptococcus and the development of Lactobacillus that produce more acid that Streptococcus.  

The fourth phase, which began ant the end of the seventh day, was characterized by the disappearance of the lactic acid bacteria and certain yeasts due to the large quantity of lactic acid produced.  The pollen became microbaily sterile, and the pH was approximately 4.

During the course of this study, Chevtchik isolated from  fresh and fermented pollen 77 groups of yeasts that he considered to be sources of proteins, lipids, and necessary growth factors."

also from the same paper:

"The yeasts, which were present in small numbers initially, increased after fermentation and subsisted in stored pollen longer than other organisms.  These researchers [Pain and Maugenet 1966] seeded pollen sterilized by gamma irradiation with Lactobacillus and concluded that a pure lactic acid fermentation produced an unappetizing product of poor nutritive value for bees.  Thus, they thought that the yeasts played the most important role from te nutritional standpoint."

I don't know how readily available the paper is, we got it from the Tuscon Bee Lab.  Virtually every paragraph of this paper could spawn a discussion.

>I am interested only in the freshest pollen eaten, for the sake of this discussion.

This all started (I think) discussing the difference between beebread and pollen.  Pollen collected by the bees is, by the time the bees consume it (even if it consumed immediately when brought to the hive) not fresh, unfermented pollen...it is somewhere along the way to be bee bread, it is somewhat fermented.  The references that come to mind when I think of bees and unfermented pollen is the "entombed pollen" observations, and some of the early CCD reports that cited undigested pollen in the guts of the bees.  Could fungicides (from the field) or in hive treatments affect this fermentation?  I can't imagine that it doesn't.

deknow


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