Quality Assessment of Goldenrod, Milkweed and Multifloral Honeys Based on Botanical Origin, Antioxidant Capacity and Mineral Content

The goal of the study was to evaluate the pollen spectrum, antioxidant capacity and mineral content of four Hungarian honey types, using multivariate statistical analysis. The light colored honeys were represented by milkweed honey and a multifloral (MF) honey with dominant pollen frequency of linden (MF-Tilia); the darker ones were goldenrod honey and a multifloral honey with Lamiaceae pollen majority (MF-Lamiaceae). The pollen spectrum of the samples was established with melissopalynological analysis. The absorbance of the honeys positively correlated with the antioxidant capacity determined with three of the used methods (TRC, TEAC, DPPH), but not with ORAC. The latter method correlated negatively also with other antioxidant methods and with most of the mineral values. MF-Tilia had high ORAC value, K and Na content. The MF-Lamiaceae had the highest K, Mg, P, S, Cu and Zn content, the last five elements showing strict correlation with the TRC method. The darker goldenrod honey had higher SET values and total mineral content, than the milkweed honey. The above character-sets facilitate identification of each honey type and serve as indicators of variety. The antioxidant levels and mineral content of honeys allowed their clear separation by principal component analysis (PCA).

Melissopalynological Analysis of Forest Honey from North Malaysia

Honey is a natural product widely used by humans due to its sweet taste and health benefits produced by bees from nectar and honey dew of various plants. To establish and increase the production of honey one must know the plants that take part in the production of honey. In this study pollen analysis of forest honey samples from northern part of Malaysia was carried out to determine the botanical sources playing role in the production of honey in that region. The pollen samples were acetolyzed and identified microscopically. Out of the three samples studied Baling sample was unifloral having Mimosa scabrella as predominant pollen while Jeli and Gerik samples are multifloral containing Tipo myrcia and Elais guineensis as major secondary pollen. Fabaceae family represented four pollen types and accounted 80% of pollen in Baling sample and 34 % in Gerik sample while completely absent in Jeli sample. These results showed the dominance of plants from Fabaceae family in honey production. All the samples analysed have Albizia falcataria, Eupatorium sp., Sparganium typha, Tilia sp. and Tipo myrcia in common indicating that these plants are present in all the three places and these results also can be used as a tool in geographical identification of North Malaysian honey from others.

PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MELISSOPALYNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL BUCKWHEAT HONEYS FROM POLAND

Buckwheat honey is widely consumed by consumers due to its numerous health-promoting properties. Characteristically it is dark, tea-like in colour, sharp, tickly, and sweet in flavour, and has smelled of buckwheat flowers. In the current study, various commercial honey samples were examined to test the quality of buckwheat honey samples available in the market. The research materials were comprised of 15 samples of honeys from 4 voivodships, among these, 5 samples were collected from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, 4 from the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, 4 from the Lubelskie Voivodship, and reset 2 samples from the Podkarpackie Voivodship. Melissopalynological analyses of investigated honeys’ samples revealed that all samples had at least 45% of Fagopyrym pollen content, which means that researched honeys complied with the standards of the International Commission for Bee Botany (ICBB) for buckwheat honey. Honeys’ samples had an average water content of 15.3% (σ= 1.24), and electrical conductivity at 0.37 mS*cm-1. Therefore, all beekeepers correctly marked their honey type as buckwheat honey simply using the organoleptic properties of their honeys and observing their bees collecting pollen and honeydew.

STUDY OF MELLIFEROUS PLANTS VISITED BY THE WORKER HONEYBEE, APIS MELLIFERA INTERMISSA IN BOUMERDES, ALGERIA

This work allows to establish a list of melliferous plants visited by the worker bee, Apis mellifera intermissa in Boumerdes through melissopalynological analysis. Eight samples of honey were collected in summer from different regions of Boumerdes province in Algeria: Mizrana (H1), Tizéruine (H2), Tagdempt (H3), Sherraba (H4), Baghlia (H5), Boudouaou (H6), Sidi Daoud (H7) and Si Mustapha (H8). For the analysis, we adopted the classical method of Louveaux et al., (1970). The results obtained showed that the melissopalynological analysis indicated the pollen grains of Eucalyptus were numerous as more than 45% of the pollen in six (6) of the eight samples of Boumerdes (H1, H2, H3, H4, H7 and H8). The pollen of Hedysarum coronarium was dominant in the sample H5 (67.60%). In seven samples honey recognized multifloral by beekeepers, Eucalyptus and Citrus taxa were respectively super represented and underrepresented in the honey H7 (87.46%) and H6 (19.80%). Thus, the number of taxa listed in the honeys studied varies from 14 to 19. The total number of pollen grains counted for the 8 samples varied from 646 to 3580.

Melissopalynological analysis of honey produced by two species of stingless bees in Lombok Island, Indonesia

Jayadi LZ, Susandarini R. 2020. Melissopalynological analysis of honey produced by two species of stingless bees in Lombok Island, Indonesia. Nusantara Bioscience 12: 97-108. Honey is a natural product with a variety of benefits that commonly used as food sweeteners, health supplements, and traditional medicine. There has been no comprehensive publication regarding the diversity of pollen contained in honey produced by stingless bee Tetragonula laeviceps and Heterotrogona itama from Lombok. This study aimed to reveal the diversity of pollen content in honey through melissopalynological analysis of honey samples produced by two species of stingless bees T. laeviceps and H. itama in Lombok Island. This melissopalynological study was performed on honey samples obtained from nine villages from nine sub-districts representing the three districts on Lombok Island. Pollen extraction from honey was carried out using standard methods for melissopalynological analysis. The diversity of pollen recovered from honey varied from 15 to 41 pollen types. Total number of plant species whose pollen was recovered from honey samples was 127 which consisted of 61 families. The occurrence of predominant pollen type in particular unifloral honey samples indicated their botanical origin and presumed geographical origin of honey. Results of this study are useful in confirming botanical origin of honey and generating information on plants potential as food source for sustainable beekeeping in Lombok Island.

Raspberry, Rape, Thyme, Sunflower and Mint Honeys Authentication Using Voltammetric Tongue

The aim of this study was to authenticate five types of Romanian honey (raspberry, rape, thyme, sunflower and mint) using a voltammetric tongue (VE tongue) technique. For the electronic tongue system, six electrodes (silver, gold, platinum, glass, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) were used. The results of the melissopalynological analysis were supplemented by the data obtained with the electronic voltammetric tongue system. The results were interpreted by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). In this way, the usefulness of the working electrodes was compared for determining the botanical origin of the honey samples. The electrodes of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and silver were more useful, as the results obtained with these electrodes showed that it was achieved a better classification of honey according to its botanical origin. The comparison of the results of the electronic voltammetric tongue technique with those obtained by melissopalynological analysis showed that the technique was able to accurately classify 92.7% of the original grouped cases. The similarity of results confirmed the ability of the electronic voltammetric tongue technique to perform a rapid characterization of honey samples, which complements its advantages of being an easy-to-use and cheap method of analysis.