Determination of microbiological contamination, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of natural plant hazelnut ( L.) pollen.

The aim of our study is to determine microbial contamination, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of 14 pollen samples of collected from different locations in Slovakia. Microbiological analysis was carried out in two steps: microbiological assays and studies of antibacterial activity of pollen extracts. The antimicrobial properties of pollen extracts were carried out with the disc-diffusion method. Methanol (70%), ethanol (70%) and distilled water were used for pollen extracts. Five strains of bacteria such as gram-negative ( subsp. CCM 3807, CCM 2024, and CCM 5671) and gram-positive CCM 2461 and CCM 19T) were tested. Antioxidant activity of pollen extracts was determined by the DPPH method. Bacterial analysis includes the determination of the total bacterial count ranged from 4.08 to 4.61 log CFU g, mesophilic aerobic bacteria ranged from 3.40 to 4.89 log CFU g, mesophilic anaerobic bacteria ranged from 3.20 to 4.52 log CFU g, coliform bacteria ranged from 3.30 to 4.55 log CFU g, yeasts and filamentous fungi ranged from 3.00 to 3.56 log CFU g. Microscopic filamentous fungi spp., spp., spp., spp., spp., and spp. were isolated from hazelnut pollen. was the most sensitive strain among ethanolic and methanolic pollen hazelnut extracts. was the most sensitive strain against aqueous hazelnut pollen extracts. We determined the following sensitivity against ethanol pollen extracts respectively: Methanol pollen extracts had shown following sensitivity: Aqueous extracts had shown the following sensitivity: Hazelnut pollen extracts have over 82% antioxidant capacity in samples from non-urban zones. An elevated level of antioxidant potential in the pollen is determined by its biological properties conditioned by biologically active substances. DPPH method allowed characterizing pollen as a source of antioxidants.