Rodica Mărgăoan

• PhD
• Researcher at University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca

Food safety, particularly within the meat industry, is a significant concern addressed under the One Health concept, emphasizing the necessity of enhanced surveillance and hygiene protocols to mitigate contamination risks. This study assessed microbiological risks in Romanian bovine slaughterhouses by analyzing 150 samples from stool and carcasses...

Antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria in humans and animals poses a critical public health challenge, leading to diminished effectiveness of existing antimicrobial treatments. Notably, animal-derived food products are significant vectors for the transmission of resistant bacteria to humans, with Salmonella species being predominant culpri...

Ensuring food safety and protecting consumers are major aspects for commercialized products. Honey, the most prominent in the class of bee products, requires special regulations due to its origin as a natural product. Mislabeling, imitation, and adulteration represent a source of risks for human health. Specific determinations and analyses are esse...

Fallopia japonica (FJ), commonly known as Japanese knotweed, is now recognized as one of the most invasive plants in Europe and globally. Despite its widespread presence in Europe and its significant nectar production, there is currently limited scientific data on the unique unifloral honey derived from it. This study examines the physicochemical c...

Several factors, including environmental degradation, air pollution, intense urbanization, excessive agriculture, and climate change, endanger the well-being of animals and plants. One of the major issues with an increasingly negative impact is agricultural contamination with pesticides and antibiotics. Seed coatings with neonicotinoid insecticides...

Bee products and natural oils are appreciated due to their beneficial effects on health, which are strongly related to several pharmacological and biological activities. The present study aimed to assess the bioactive potential of two bee products with the addition of natural oils, the first product consisting of honeydew honey, soft propolis extra...

The present study investigates the impact of solid-state fermentation on bee-collected pollen using a consortium of Lactobacillus plantarum, Apilactobacillus kunkeei, and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Another aim is to compare the nutritional and bioactive properties of natural versus fermented pollen, focusing on macronutrient composition, pH, acidit...

Pollen is made up of many chemical constituents such as proteins, sugars, lipids, minerals and phytochemicals. These components make pollen products an excellent source of nutrients and antioxidants for consumers. However, mycotoxigenic fungi are also common in pollen, creating contamination from generated mycotoxins. With adequate monitoring, samp...

In ancient times, bee products have been used as food and medicine as evidenced by Greek, Chinese and Egyptian texts. Nowadays, apart from their use as dietary supplements owing to their nutritional composition and bio-properties, they are also used in the prevention or treatment against different ailments. Bee collected pollen (BP) is a mixture of...

The current study was carried out to monitor the dynamics of phenolic compounds and vitamin C variations in Hippophae rhamnoides L. (sea buckthorn) under the influence of different color filters, as follows: yellow (590 nm), blue (450 nm), and violet (400 nm). The fruits were harvested at maturity from different parts of the canopy (i.e., base, mid...

Morphological and molecular characterization of germplasm is essential for the improvement of cultivated plants efforts. This study investigated the genetic diversity of 32 Cyclamen genotypes comprising 16 C. persicum varieties and 16 Cyclamen species using multivariate analysis for 36 morphological traits (19 quantitative and 17 qualitative) and m...

Honey bee colonies are often subjected to diseases, nutrition quality, temperature and other stresses depending on environmental and climatic conditions. As a result of malnutrition, the level of Vg protein decreases, leading to overwintering losses. The Vg values must be high for a successful wintering, especially before wintering. If good nutriti...

Propolis is a valuable natural substance obtained by honey bees after being collected from the bark, resin of trees, plant leaves and mixed with their saliva, and has been widely used for various biological activities. The properties of propolis can vary widely by botanical origin, location of the hives and colony population. It is thought that the...

Standardization, although voluntary in many countries around the world, is extremely important for regulating the marketing of goods and services. The standardization of a product guarantees quality parameters not only in the production processes but also in the finished product, thus giving greater confidence to consumers. Among the various hive p...

Cyclamen genus is part of the Primulaceae family consisting of 24 species widely cultivated as ornamental and medicinal plants. They also possess high plasticity in terms of adaptability to alternating environmental conditions. In this regard, the present study investigates the germination and morphological parameters of heat-tolerant and heat-sens...

Climate change affects plant phenology and, as a result, can damage nectar and pollen sources, which are the basic needs of bees during flowering. This situation creates nutritional stress for bee colonies in the region. Changing climatic conditions, the use of agricultural lands adversely affects honeybees and beekeepers. The aim of this study is...

Honey bees need pollen and nectar sources to survive in nature. Particularly, having young bees in colonies is vital before wintering, and proper feeding is necessary to achieve this. In the present study, the effect of feeding with pollen sources of different protein content on colony performance, wintering ability and in-vitro longevity of coloni...

The present study was carried out to evaluate and compare in vitro antioxidant (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)), antimicrobial, anticancer activities, and the individual carotenoids and anthocyanins content of methanol extracts of the Cyclamen genotyp...

Present study aimed to establish the stimulatory effects of bee drone larvae (BDL) on the androgenic effects and growth performance of goat male kids (GMK). The effects of BDL on growth and testosterone hormone levels were investigated in Saanen male kids. A total of 26 Saanen male kids (13 heads control, 13 heads treatment groups) were used for de...

The aim of the research was to scientifically substantiate the need for a geographical indication for Ukrainian honey. Pollen grains of endemic plant species have been studied. A list of geographical names of original honeys of Ukraine has been created.

Recent signs of progress in functional foods and nutraceuticals highlighted the favorable impact of bioactive molecules on human health and longevity. As an outcome of the fermentation process, an increasing interest is developed in bee products. Bee bread (BB) is a different product intended for humans and bees, resulting from bee pollen's lactic...

The biologically active potential of honey is mainly provided by phenolic compounds, which include a broad spectrum of active molecules with a wide structural diversity, from phenolic acids to flavonoids. The major purpose of this research was to determine the total polyphenol content and the flavones content of some polyfloral honey samples correl...

Honey adulteration generates low quality products on the market. The study aimed to find a simple, specific and less time-consuming method than standard melissopalynology only, for monitoring honey botanical and geographical origin. In this study 42 honey samples from different sources were examined for their botanical origin by using melissopalyno...

Throughout history, honey has been used for many different purposes and due to its medicinal properties, has been one of the products marketed by traders. The figure of the bee first appeared in drawings on rock with the history of humanity, then on statues, as a logo, on money or stamps, and also in movies. Beekeeping museums, which present the hi...

Background: vegetative diversity is based on different climate and geographical origins. In terms of beekeeping, herbal diversity is strongly correlated to the production of a wide variety of honey. Therefore, based on the existing plant diversity in each country, multiple honey varieties are produced with different health characteristics. While be...

This study aimed to characterize raw honeys from different geographical origins in Romania, in respect of chemical composition, microbiological examination and evaluate their probiotic potential. The physico-chemical determinations were performed in APHIS-DIA Laboratory, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, using standard validated methods. Bacterial identificati...

The aim of this study was to determine the botanical origin, phenolics, flavonoids and fatty acids content, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, of 18 bee collected pollen (BP) samples from Turkey and Romania. Five plant families with predominant pollens (>45%) were found in the Turkish samples, and only three in the Romanian samples. The phen...

Currently, the antibacterial properties of honeydew honey are increasingly valued, being regarded as superior to blossom honeys. Over the years, the antibacterial activity of propolis has been highly appreciated, due to the flavonoids and phenolic acids present in its composition. Moreover, essential thyme oil and sea buckthorn oil have been recogn...

Honey, the sweet natural substance produced by honeybees is currently considered one of the nature’s most powerful products. Natural honey can be regarded as a nutraceutical product due to its nutritional benefits and therapeutic promises. In addition to this, the use of honey as food and medicine has been embraced by different civilizations, from...

Knowledge of biologically active potential of honey has made significant progress in the last decade, due to the diversification and improvement of the analysis methods regarding the content in various functional compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the total polyphenolic content and the antioxidant and antibacterial potential of some h...

Beebread (BB) is a fermented bee product made from plant pollen, honey and bee saliva. The nutritive and biological compounds of BB vary greatly depending on the diversity of flora and the season of pollen collection by bees. In order to evaluate this valuable bee product potential, thirteen BB samples were analyzed on the nutritive proprieties and...

Pollen analysis is the basic method for the determination of the botanical and geographical origin of honey. However, the presence of over-represented pollen in honeys may lead to false results of the analysis. This can be more severe if this pollen is present in unifloral under-represented honeys of commercial importance (e.g. thyme or acacia hone...

Bal mumu arı kolonisinin yaşamsal faaliyetlerini üzerinde yürüttüğü peteğin ham maddesidir. Arıcılık işletmeleri için bal, polen, arı sütü ve arı ekmeği gibi bal mumu da bir arı ürünüdür. Bal mumu absorbe etme yeteneği kaynaklı kovan içi ve dışı kirleticileri bünyesinde biriktirebilmektedir. Bu şekilde kalıntı içeren peteklerden üretilen arı ürünle...

Recently, an increasing interest is paid to bee products obtained as a result of the fermentation process. Some of them can be consumed directly (bee-collected pollen, honey, bee bread etc.), while others are the result of lactic and/or acid fermentation (honey vinegar and honey wine). Bee bread is the result of pollens’ lactic fermentation, wherea...

Nowadays, aromatic plants and oils have significant contributions in growth performance, regulation of the digestive system and struggle with disease factors in farm animals. In beekeeping, many synthetic drugs are used against bee diseases and pests. Medicinal aromatic plants and oils, whose beneficial effects are known, are used in beekeeping in...

Cyclamen species (swinebread spp.) are perennial herbaceous plants which belong to the Primulaceae family, widely used as medicinal or ornamental plants. Currently, gibberellic acid (GA3), an environmentally friendly bioregulator is widely used to enhance the productivity and phenotypic characteristics of multiple ornamental crops. A dual experimen...

The mechanism of floral mutation including double flowers in plant species can be explained by the ABCDE model which represents the relationship between MADS-box transcription factor genes and floral morphogenesis. The ornamental importance of Cyclamen led to the creation of double-flowered cultivars caused by the repression of AG-like gene express...

ABSTRACT: Bee products are used as supplements to provide nutrients in prevent or treatment of some health problems. Royal jelly has a rich nutrient contents in bee hive which protects and strengthens the health; compared to other bee products, it has a significant potential and effect. Because of its functional properties, royal jelly is very effe...

The fertilization process and the production of seeds are due to pollination, where every pollen grain from the male part of a plant is transferred to a female part of the plant. Most often, cross-pollination is carried out zoophilous, anemophilous or hydrophilous. The subject of the present paper is pollination, which has the following subtypes: e...

Four samples of commercial royal jelly (RJ), delivered by different distributors, were characterized by photopyroelectric (PPE) calorimetry. The thermal diffusivity was obtained in the back PPE configuration by performing a sample thickness scan of the phase of the PPE signal. In order to determine the thermal effusivity, a frequency scan of the ph...

Arıcılık, çevre koşulları ile iç içe yapılan bir üretim faaliyetidir. Son yıllarda koloni kayıplarının ardından çalışılan bir konu da bal arılarında bağırsak mikroflorasıdır. Bağırsak mikroflorasının; metabolizma, bağışıklık fonksiyonu, büyüme-gelişmede rol oynadığı ve özellikle arı sağlığının korumasına etkili olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bal arılarında...

Bee bread is a product of the hive obtained from pollen collected by bees, to which they add honey, digestive enzymes and subsequently is stored in the combs. Increasing evidence suggests bee bread’s potential therapeutic benefits, including antimicrobial properties. Bee bread is characterized by a bactericidal and bacteriostatic activity. The curr...

Günümüzde değişen yaşam koşulları nedeniyle hastalıkların artması, beslenmede yetersizlik, dengesizlik ve protein eksikliğinin giderilmesi amacıyla çeşitli fonksiyonel besin kaynakları konusunda araştırmalar yapılmaktadır. Bazı ülkelerde hem geleneksel eğilimle, hem de artan nüfusa bağlı olarak besin kaynaklarının değerlendirilmesi ve etkin kullanı...

Bee Bread samples from Romania and India were analysed by microscopy and High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detection (HPLC/DAD) and compared with pollen from the correspondent taxa. The quantification of sugars, fructose/glucose ratio, total phenolics and flavonoids was also carried out. From the results was possible to identi...

Beebread is a product of the hive obtained from pollen collected by bees, to which they add honey, digestive enzymes and subsequently is stored in the combs. The bees transform the bee pollen in beebread by an anaerobic fermentation process. A proper hive management promotes beebread collection, aimed at marketing it for human consumption since it...

Given their beneficial effects in terms of health, the natural products, especially beehive products, have drawn the attention of consumers since long time ago. In order to guarantee the quality of these products on the market, their chemical composition needs to be analyzed. Thus, this current research had as objective the establishment of quality...

Beebread is a valuable bee product, both for bee nutrition and for humans. The high nutritional and bioactive properties of beebread were evaluated by chemical composition analysis of beebread from Apis mellifera and Apis dorsata. Bee bread harvested from Romania and India, coming from Apis mellifera and Apis dorsata bees, were evaluated for their...

Bee-pollen was used for thousands of years as functional food and medicinal plant product. Various beneficial effects were attributed to it and its consumption was increased over the years. The tests have been made on 16 pollen samples of the following families: Rosaceae, Salicaceae, Fabaceae, Tiliaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae and two polifloral...

Honeybee collected pollen exhibits high nutritional and pharmaceutical benefits for the human diet and medicine. Pollen’s antioxidant, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, anti-atherosclerosis, and cardioprotective activity, depending on the floral origin, are well known. Recent studies proposed that pollen may also be an excellent cancer-fighting candi...

Royal jelly has become a high-value commercial product and the standardization of this product is required to guarantee its quality on the market. The objective of the research activity was to pursue the chemical composition of commercial samples of Royal Jelly in Romania in order to propose standardization for this product. The physico-chemical co...

In this study polyphenols content and antioxidant activity of melliferous plants for the following: mint (Mentha pulegium), burdock (Arctium lappa), comfrey (Symphytum officinale), plantain (Pantago lanceolata), thyme (Thymus vulgaris), sage (Salvia officinalis), marigold (Calendula officinalis), small marshmallow (Althaea officinalis), echinacea (...

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 70(2)/2013, 311-315 Print ISSN 1843-5262; Electronic ISSN 1843-536X

bee pollen, palynology, Nikon Eclipse 50i microscope, slide, pollen guide

This paper presents the evaluation of antibacterial activity of some plant alcoholic extracts over bacteria in milk as an alternative to current antibiotics. Tests were conducted on alcoholic extracts from sage (Salvia officinalis), two hop species Brewers Gold and Perle and two essential oils (rosemary - Rosmarinus officinalis and lavender - Lavan...

This paper presents the evaluation of antibacterial activity of some plant alcoholic extracts over bacteria in milk as an alternative to current antibiotics. Tests were conducted on alcoholic extracts from sage (Salvia officinalis), two hop species Brewers Gold and Perle and two essential oils (rosemary - Rosmarinus officinalis and lavender - Lavan...

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed for the grouping of 22 honey samples of three different botanical origins (honeydew, multifloral and black locust honey) by using comparatively the HPLC data from the quantitative determination of nine sugars, and the FTIR spectra of the same samples. In order to evaluate the classification results, b...

Bee pollen is consumed for api-therapeutical, nutritional and medicinal properties. Its actions are attributed to its chemical composition and mostly phenolics, carotenoids, fatty acids and vitamins. For this study, bee pollen was freshly harvested and immediately placed at-18 0 C. Two different extraction solvents were used: ethanol and methanol,...

Heather (Calluna vulgaris) honey is a special type of honey, highly valued for its characteristic strong taste, unusual texture and health properties. Antibacterial activity of honey is due to low acidity, high osmolarity, content of hydrogen peroxide and other components such as polyphenolic compounds. In this paper we proposed evaluation of the i...

Apitherapy represents the utilization of bee products for preventing and curing a series of illnesses and also the promotion of a healthy life style through consumption of these products. Due to the fact that apitherapy is a part of medical science, bee products used for this purpose must have a certain quality, namely, they must possess a series o...

Total and individual carotenoids, fatty acid composition of total lipids and main lipid classes of 16 fresh bee collected pollen samples from Romania were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection and capillary gas chromatography with mass detection. Analyzed samples were found rich in lutein, while β-crip...

Palynological analysis, total polyphenols, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity were studied on six samples fresh bee pollen from Transylvania. Floral origin of used bee collected pollen was identified by palynological analysis without acetolysis followed by microscopy and comparison with a library of samples. The content of total polyphenols...

Palynological analysis, total polyphenols, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity were studied on six samples fresh bee pollen from Transylvania. Floral origin of used bee collected pollen was identified by palynological analysis without acetolysis followed by microscopy and comparison with a library of samples. The content of total polyphenols...

Sixteen samples of fresh bee pollen were collected from different regions in Transylvania and analyzed regarding their moisture, lipids, proteins, ash and major carbohydrates. The obtained results showed a variability of the moisture from 17.59 to 29.55%, proteins 16.27 to 26.50%, ash from 1.75 to 3.25%, fructose from 8.44% to 15.39% and glucose fr...

Pollen represents the male reproductive cells collected by honeybees from flower stamens. The nutritional and medicinal value of bee pollen is known for centuries. With orange to red pigments, it provides nutrition through its considerable amounts of proteins, sterols, vitamins, fatty acids, phenol compounds and other physiologically active compoun...

28 declared honeydew honey samples were collected from different Transylvanian areas directly from the beekeepers (24 samples) or from supermarket (4 samples). Physico-chemical parameters as well as microscopic analysis were done in order to authenticate the honeydew honey from this part of Romania. The results of electrical conductivity, ash and m...

The result of the long evolutionary process formed, by natural selection, variable races and ecotypes which are biological and ecological differentiated. The Romanian, Apis mellifera carpatica is the most adapted and the most efficient species at the local conditions. Morphometric measurements were the major criteria for classification described by...

FTIR spectroscopy is a very recent technique mainly used so far for classification of honeys of different geographical and botanical origin, on identification of honey and other food products adulteration. Some of the advantages of FTIR methodology are described in this article.