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Title: POLLEN COEFFICIENT VALUES IN MELISSOPALYNOLOGY

Author
item BRYANT, VAUGHN - TAMU, PALYNOLOGY LAB
item Jones, Gretchen

Submitted to: American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/25/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: One of the goals of melissopalynology is to determine the floral resources utilized by honeybees in the production of honey. Because some types of commercial honey are preferred over others, the preferred types are in high demand and are sold at much higher prices. Verification of these preferred (premium) types of honey is often difficult because many of them come from plant sources that are either weak pollen producers or have pollen that is under-represented in honey. In an effort to verify these premium honey types, researchers developed various methods for correcting the pollen data. These methods produce what are known as pollen coefficient (PC) values. Pollen coefficient values are currently being used to verify honey types produced from floral sources that are over- or under-represented in the relative pollen counts of a honey sample. We have examined the historical development of PC values, the reliability of using PC data, the flaws inherent in the development of various types of PC data, and the steps we believe are needed to formulate new PC values that will be reliable and will be universally accepted for the verification of honey types.