Characteristics of the bitter and sweet honey from Algeria Mediterranean coast

Vet World Vol.12 April-2019 Article-10

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(4): 551-557

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.551-557

Ines Otmani¹, Cherif Abdennour¹, Amina Dridi², Labiba Kahalerras¹, and Abdelaziz Halima-Salem³

1. Department of Biology, Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Annaba, Algeria.
2. Department of Biology, Laboratory of Plant Biology and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Annaba, Algeria.
3. Department of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Annaba, Algeria.

Background and Aim: This study aimed to compare the physicochemical, the biochemical, and the antioxidant characteristics of unifloral bitter honey and polyfloral sweet honey.

Materials and Methods: Unifloral bitter and polyfloral sweet honey samples were, respectively, harvested in January and July, and then, they were extracted by the traditional method. The markers of refractive index, pH, free acidity, Brix index, density, reducing sugars, total polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferric reducing/ antioxidant power (FRAP) were evaluated.

Results: The obtained results showed that the physicochemical parameters are within the normal ranges, in which they meet the international standards (Codex Alimentarius). For biochemical constituents, matching concentrations of reducing sugars (glucose+fructose) were observed in both samples, while that of sucrose were very low in unifloral than polyfloral honey. The levels of the active ingredients showed a difference in total polyphenols and tannins of the two types of honey studied, whereas that of flavonoids were almost similar. The antioxidant activity of various samples evaluated by DPPH and FRAP indicated that unifloral has a superior activity.

Conclusion: Compared to polyfloral honey, unifloral bitter honey has lower sucrose, high total polyphenols, and tannins levels, in addition to higher antioxidant potential. Keywords: antioxidant activity, bitter honey, flavonoids, polyphenols, sweet honey.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, bitter honey, flavonoids, polyphenols, sweet honey.

How to cite this article: Otmani I, Abdennour C, Dridi A, Kahalerras L, Halima-Salem A (2019) Characteristics of the bitter and sweet honey from Algeria Mediterranean coast, Veterinary World, 12(4): 551-557.

Received: 26-11-2018 Accepted: 22-02-2019 Published online: 17-04-2019

Corresponding author: Ines Otmani E-mail: otmani.ines@yahoo.fr

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.551-557

Copyright: Otmani, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.