Comparison of the microbial community of bee bread and bee pollen

We have examined the bacterial communities of bee bread and bee pollen with the help of the metabarcoding approach. Among seven healthy colonies of Apis mellifera six colonies (three in each arm) were provided with two different pollen patties made of rape seed or oak respectively and one colony as control. In each arm, out of three hives, one hive was equipped with pollen trap and inflow of bee foraged pollen was allowed in another two hives. We have collected the bee bread or pollen on the 5th day, isolated the DNA, used 16s rRNA for bacterial identification, profiled taxonomic composition based on OTUs, biodiversity, etc.