An insight into the botanical origins of propolis from permanent preservation and reforestation areas of southern Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Brown propolis from permanent preservation and reforestation areas of southern Brazil have attracted international commercial interest and have a unique composition, although little is known about their botanical origins, which are the plant resins used by bee foragers to produce propolis. Hence, the volatile profiles of organic and non-organic brown propolis and resins of suspected botanical origins—Araucaria angustifolia, Pinus elliott and Pinus taeda—were determined using static headspace gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (SHS-GCMS) and compared. Nighty nine volatiles were tentatively identified, and monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were the most abundant classes. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed similarity between organic propolis and A. angustifolia volatile profiles (p < 0.05). Hierarchical clustering analysis showed singularities among propolis, even between propolis produced 1 km away from each other. Heatmaps were used to identify peaks present in similar relative intensities in both propolis and conifer resins. Hence, the approach using volatile profiles shed light to propolis botanical origins, which is important for authentication and traceability purposes.