Gela Alemayehu, Hora Zewdu Ararso, Kebebe Deresa, Gebresilassie Araya
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Centre, Holeta, Ethiopia.
Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2021 Jan 15;7(1):e05875. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05875. eCollection 2021 Jan.
The study was investigated to characterize the physico-chemical properties of honey produced from stingless bees () in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Honey samples were collected from underground soils through an excavation of natural nests from four representative districts (Wolmera, Jeldu, Toke Kutaye and Chalyia). About 120 honey samples (0.35-1.5 lit volumes) were collected and pooled for each respective area (district) for analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) of pollen data and GPS were used to categorize the botanical origin and geographical location of honey sample sources, respectively. Consecutively, the physico-chemical characters were evaluated for the moisture content (MC), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, ash, total acidity (TA), hydroxyl methyl furfuraldhyde (HMF), insoluble materials (IM), and proline. The study results showed that the mean values of parameters for honey samples were: MC (29 ± 1.45), EC (0.22 ± 0.03), pH (3.73 ± 0.13), Ash (0.41 ± 1.1), TA (7.3 ± 0.36), HMF (18 ± 3.45), IM (0.70 ± 0.3) and proline (214.5 ± 15). There was no mean significance differences observed among the sampled districts for the analyzed parameters, except for proline. The values were compared against the standard physico-chemical parameters of honey of Ethiopia and these values significantly varied for moisture content, total acidity and HMF. This is the first study investigated on composition property of stingless bee honey in Ethiopia and recall for further study on its nutritional and medicinal values so as to create a specific standardization.
本研究旨在表征埃塞俄比亚奥罗米亚地区无刺蜂所产蜂蜜的物理化学性质。通过挖掘来自四个代表性地区（沃尔梅拉、杰尔杜、托凯库塔耶和查利亚）的天然蜂巢，从地下土壤中采集蜂蜜样本。每个地区（区）收集约120个蜂蜜样本（0.35 - 1.5升）并合并用于分析。分别使用花粉数据的主成分分析（PCA）和GPS对蜂蜜样本来源的植物来源和地理位置进行分类。随后，对水分含量（MC）、电导率（EC）、pH值、灰分、总酸度（TA）、羟甲基糠醛（HMF）、不溶性物质（IM）和脯氨酸等物理化学特性进行评估。研究结果表明，蜂蜜样本参数的平均值为：MC（29 ± 1.45）、EC（0.22 ± 0.03）、pH（3.73 ± 0.13）、灰分（0.41 ± 1.1）、TA（7.3 ± 0.36）、HMF（18 ± 3.45）、IM（0.70 ± 0.3）和脯氨酸（214.5 ± 15）。除脯氨酸外，各采样地区分析参数之间未观察到显著差异。将这些值与埃塞俄比亚蜂蜜的标准物理化学参数进行比较，发现水分含量、总酸度和HMF的值存在显著差异。这是埃塞俄比亚首次对无刺蜂蜂蜜的成分特性进行研究，并呼吁进一步研究其营养和药用价值，以建立特定的标准化。
