Question

What are economic importance of honey ( improvement in food resources )




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Answer 1

Bees are an integral part of our lives and without them life would take a very different turn. There are well around 25,000 bee species in the world. The bees provide important natural products and services. The bees pollinate flowers and therefore play an important part in food production. Most plants are totally dependent on certain types of bees for reproduction. It is also for this reason that commercial pollination has began to take shape in the larger agricultural industry. Of all the bee species, the honeybee is the most economically valuable as it is able to focus on particular plants at a time. It does not pollinate randomly because it targets particular plant species in every outing. A single honeybee can pollinate thousands of flowers daily.

Answer 2

Honey is prepared by honeybees that belong to genus Apis. Four species of honeybees are reported, Apis dorsata, A. indica, A. florea and A. mellifera.
"The culture of honeybees for the production of honey and bee wax is known as apiculture."
Honey is plant product of high nutritive value. It contains about 80% sugar. It is not a direct plant product because the nectar, pollen grains and cane sugar is collected by the bees in their crops where it gets mixed with saliva, containing certain enzymes and undergoes chemical changes due to enzyme action. At this stage cane sugar (sucrose) is converted into dextrose and levulose and some ingredients of bees also added to the mixture to reduce the water content. The whole mixture is then collected in the honey sac (crop) until it reaches the hive. As the honeybee reaches the hive this compound is regurgitated in the hive cell and is known as honey.

Chemical Composition of honey
Honey is very sweet in taste. It is a sugar rich compound having following ingredients :
(1) Levulose - 38%
(2) Dextrose - 21%
(3) Maltose and other sugars - 9%
(4) Enzymes and pigments - 2.3%
(5) Ash - 10%
(6) Water - 17%

Economic Importance of Honey
Honey is used by human beings as food and medicine.
1. Food value : 100 gm of honey provides as much nourishment as 6 litres of milk or 800 gm cream or 170 gm meat. 2.1 gm of honey provides 67 Kcal of energy. Sugar, minerals, vitamins and other vital elements of honey are easily absorbed by systems. Honey can be taken by healthy as well as sick persons at any time in any season. It is used in the preparation of candies, cakes and bread.

2. Medicinal value : Honey is mild laxative, antiseptic and sedative. It is generally used in Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicines. Honey is quiet helpful in building up of the haemoglobin of blood and also used as preventive against fever, cough and cold. It is also used to treat ulcers of tongue and alimentary canal. Germs of typhoid are killed by honey within 48 hours.