Plant pollen and nectar are two essential resources for bees, including bumblebees. Nectar, rich in carbohydrates, is an essential source of energy, while pollen provides proteins, lipids, and other nutrients essential for their development. Among these nutrients, pollen proteins play a crucial role, particularly in larval growth and worker longevity. To ensure colony health and reproduction, it's essential that pollen contains a balanced profile of amino acids (the building blocks of protein!), thus providing complete proteins needed to produce new individuals and maintain adults. Pollen with a high protein-to-lipid ratio, and containing several vitamins (notably vitamin B3) as well as minerals, is generally considered particularly nutritious.

 

In addition to its nutritional value, the pollen of certain plants has medicinal properties that can improve the health of pollinators by helping to fight pathogens. Their effects may be caused by the presence of secondary compounds (such as alkaloids, phenols, and terpenes) or by the spiky morphology of the pollen grain. However, they are often deficient in amino acids, while more the nutritious pollens can, paradoxically, favour the proliferation of diseases within colonies (intestinal pathogens also feed on proteins, for example).

 

This is why, particularly in agricultural environments, it is essential to diversify floral resources by offering a wide range of plants with complementary nutritional profiles . A combination of plants with complementary nutritional and medicinal values gives pollinators access to an optimal balance between nutrition and protection, promoting their health, resilience and, ultimately, the sustainability of their populations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In this series of fact sheets, we present different plant species - wild and cultivated - highlighting the nutritional and medicinal value of their pollen, to help identify the plants most beneficial for pollinators.

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* Fact sheets only available in french for the time being