The Quantity and Biochemical Composition of Sap Collected from Silver Birch (Betula pendula Roth) Trees Growing in Different Soils

Mingaila, Justas; Čiuldienė, Dovilė; Viškelis, Pranas; Bartkevičius, Edmundas; Vilimas, Vladas; Armolaitis, Kęstutis

doi:10.3390/f11040365

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Also, thinning may increase the sap yield of remaining trees through enhanced crown development, but this needs further studies. Besides the quantity, the chemical composition of birch sap is an important property that also varies between trees and sites (Ozolinčius et al 2016;Mingaila et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model for the sap yield of birches tapped by citizen scientists

Miina¹,

Kurttila²

2022

Silva Fenn.

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The sap yield of birches ( Roth and Ehrh.) was modelled as a function of tree diameter (girth) at breast height, as well as site and stand characteristics measured and reported by citizen scientists representing mainly non-industrial private forest owners in the South Savo, North Karelia, and Northern Ostrobothnia regions in Finland. Birches (tree species not recorded) growing on both mineral and peatland sites were tapped during the springs of 2019 and 2020. Citizen scientists were mainly voluntary forest owners who received the instructions and equipment (spouts, drop lines and buckets) for collecting sap from three birches of different diameters in the same birch stand. Citizen scientists were instructed to measure and report the sap yield and girth of the trees, as well as stand characteristics from the forest resource data, if available. Based on the linear mixed model fitted to the data, the sap yield increased with the increasing tree diameter and mean stand height, and varied between years, stands, and trees; between-region variation was not significant. In a birch stand, the simulated total sap yield haâ1 was depended on the average tree size and the stem number haâ1 and was at its highest just before the first commercial thinning and again before the second thinning. The sap model can be used to predict the necessary sap yield in profitability analyses for sap tapping.Betula pendulaB. pubescens

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model for the sap yield of birches tapped by citizen scientists

Miina¹,

Kurttila²

2022

Silva Fenn.

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“…Shaping the nutritional properties of birch sap may also consist in the selection of a collecting site taking into account the properties of the soil environment. It has been shown that this has an impact on the chemical composition of the sap [60]. So far, however, the best way to guarantee nutritional benefits and the toxicological safety of birch sap is to combine the raw material taken from as many trees as possible.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of tree age, daily sap volume and date of sap collection on the content of minerals and heavy metals in silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) tree sap

et al. 2020

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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the age of trees, daily sap volume as well as the term of tapping birch sap collected in the forest environment on the content of selected minerals (zinc, copper and manganese) and heavy metals (lead, nickel, chromium and cadmium). The study was performed on material taken from two stands (aged 34 and 84 years) in a moist broadleaved forest habitat with a dominant share of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth). The research results confirmed the presence of both nutritional essential minerals and hazardous heavy metals in the birch sap. At the same time, the content of minerals and heavy metals was found to be very variable and the differences between their concentrations, recorded on the same day of collecting in several trees of the same age group, can be even several dozen times higher. Depending on the examined elements, the factors influencing their content vary. The age of the trees determines only the manganese content; daily sap volume significantly affects the content of manganese and copper, and date of collection differentiates the content of zinc, lead, nickel and cadmium. The results may be interesting in the context of developing procedures for collecting birch sap for the purpose of obtaining raw material with beneficial nutritional values and a high level of health safety. For this reason, our recommendation for guaranteeing the health safety and high nutritional value of birch sap is to combine batches of raw material taken from as many trees as possible, and at the same time to publicize the fact that collecting birch sap from just one single tree may result in a raw material that is both dangerous and has no nutritional benefits.

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“…As indicated by Petrushkevych and Korshykov [ 18 ], research has focused mainly on roots, stems or leaves. Among the studies conducted on the species B. pendula , a large number also focus on sap, which is a product of increasing interest to consumers, thus requiring greater attention to quality [ 19 ]. On the other hand, little attention is paid to the influence of heavy metals and their accumulation in the generative organs, catkins and pollen, focusing attention rather on the impact of atmospheric pollutants [ 18 , 20 – 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, birch sap is a traditional beverage in boreal and hemiboreal regions of the northern hemisphere (harvested in spring, especially in Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine). Birch sap is used as a birch sap beverage flavoured with fruit, as birch syrup, and in cosmetics for skin and hair [ 19 , 29 ]. Birch is a species with a strong link to human well-being and health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antioxidant activities in relation to the transport of heavy metals from the soil to different parts of Betula pendula (Roth.)

et al. 2023

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Background Birch is a tree with a common occurrence in the environment and its organs are used in the form of herbal material. An important aspect of this study is birch pollen, which is a problem for allergy sufferers, and due to a variety of environmental conditions, its allergenicity may increase. Among the organs studied, inflorescences deserve attention, which, as seen from an overview of the literature, are analysed for the content of heavy metals for the first time in this study. Results This paper investigated the relationship between antioxidant properties and the content of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr) as the plant's response to stress, taking into account both the vegetative and generative organs of the tree Betula pendula. While studying the accumulation of elements in individual organs, the research was extended to include the aspect of different environmental conditions, reflected in two soil types of differing physicochemical properties: sandy and silty soils. In order to thoroughly analyse the transport of the studied heavy metals from the soil to individual organs (leaves, inflorescences and pollen), ecotoxicological indicators were used. A modified translocation factor (TF) index into sTF (sap translocation factor) was presented as a novelty in research, calculated based on the content of selected heavy metals in the sap flowing to individual birch organs. This allowed for a more complete description of the transport of elements in the aerial parts of plants, indicating the accumulation of zinc and cadmium, especially in leaves. Among the studied environmental conditions which may affect the accumulation of heavy metals, sandy soil is of particular significance, conditioning lower pH values, among other things. However, analysis of the reaction of birch to the conditions of the soil environment and the content of heavy metals, based on antioxidant properties, demonstrated an evident reaction to stress, but without an unambiguous response among the studied vegetative and generative organs. Conclusions As birch is a plant with wide utility values, monitoring studies are advisable to exclude the risk of accumulation of heavy metals in its organs, and for this purpose it may be useful to use the sTF indicator and assess the antioxidant potential.

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The Quantity and Biochemical Composition of Sap Collected from Silver Birch (Betula pendula Roth) Trees Growing in Different Soils

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

A model for the sap yield of birches tapped by citizen scientists

A model for the sap yield of birches tapped by citizen scientists

The effect of tree age, daily sap volume and date of sap collection on the content of minerals and heavy metals in silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) tree sap

Antioxidant activities in relation to the transport of heavy metals from the soil to different parts of Betula pendula (Roth.)

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