Importance of Honey bee

1. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
OF HONEY
Dr. Madhura Mukadam
Associate Professor,
Dept. of Zoology,
Gogate Jogalekar College, Ratnagiri
Dt. 8. 10.2020

2. Honey production
• Origin in certain plant material (mainly nectar and honey dew).
• To produce 100gms honey, a foraging bee must visit nearly a
thousand flowers, sucking up nectar and filling its ;’honey
stomach”.
• Worker bees ingest the nectar, pollens and cane sugar which get
mixed with saliva and undergo chemical changes due to enzymes.
• Then bees come back to hive and regurgitate it in the honey cells
and this honey is called “ semi-ripened honey”.
• Fanners perfom the complex task of turning the semi-ripened
honey into ripened honey after maintaining a proper
temperature by beating their wings.

4. %

5. Chemical Composition

6. Sr.
No.
Major
constituents
(99%)
Percentage
(%)
Minor
constituents
(1 %)
Percentag
e (%)
1 Water 13.4 – 26.6 Acids
(gluconic)
0.17 – 1.17
2 Fructose 21.7 – 53.9 Minerals 0.02 – 1.03
3 Glucose 20.4 – 44.4 Nitrogen
(protein)
0.00 – 0.13
4 Sucrose 0.0 – 7. 6 Enzymes 0.1
5 Other sugar 0.1 – 16.0 Aroma
other HMF
0.1
0.1

8. Economic Importance of Honey