Honey to control the environment, also discovering fraud – Agricultural World

Honey can be a good ally for monitoring ecosystems , hiding in a few drops the health map of a region. This is demonstrated by a research conducted by the Department of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies of the University of Bologna, published in Scientific Reports.

The study, coordinated by Professor Luca Fontanesi and carried out with the help of a university working group, allowed – reads a note – to develop an badytical tool capable of detect, with a few drops of honey, which and how many insects live in the territory where the honey was produced, also allowing a control of the biodiversity of ecosystems and identify possible food fraud. "The study – explain the researchers in particular – is focused on the badysis of environmental DNA, genetic trace left by insects and transported in honey by the work of bees. "

"From an operational point of view – they argue – Next-generation sequencing techniques applied to environmental DNA have allowed to identify – indirectly but very precisely – the different species of insects present in the territory where the bees have worked, an area – it is said – that can be extended until the tool also allows to obtain quantitative information. on insect infestations in the environment, to reconstruct the genetic structure of their populations and can authenticate the area of ​​origin of honey, also monitoring the possible presence of pests of plants