Resinous Plant Species of Lesotho Used by Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) as Raw Materials for Propolis Production

Abstract

Introduction Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have the ability to look for and collect resinous substances with antimicrobial properties from a wide variety of plants from the environment they live in (Dezmirean et al., 2020). Bees collect resins on their hind legs and deposit them in their hives where the resins are mixed with wax to produce propolis (bee glue) in order to protect their family and hive (Bankova et al., 2019; Wilson et al., 2013). Interestingly, bees make use of the mechanical properties of propolis as well as its biological action. It is responsible for the lower incidence of bacteria and moulds within the hive than in the atmosphere outside (Bankova et al., 2000). The knowledge of botanical origin of resins is important because propolis harvested from colonies in different climatic regions, and thus from different botanical sources, could vary in its chemical composition and antimicrobial properties (Wilson et al., 2013). It is notable that honey bees make discrete choices among many resinous plant species, even among closely related species.