A Comparative Characterization of Physicochemical and Antioxidants Properties of Processed Heterotrigona itama Honey from Different Origins and Classification by Chemometrics Analysis

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 24; no. 21; p. 3898
• Main Authors: Shamsudin, Sharina, Selamat, Jinap, Sanny, Maimunah, A R, Shamsul Bahari, Jambari, Nuzul Noorahya, Khatib, Alfi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29-10-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Acidity; Amino acids; Amino Acids - analysis; Animals; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - analysis; antioxidants properties; Apis mellifera; Bees; Bees - chemistry; Chemical Phenomena; Chemometrics; chemometrics analysis; Cluster Analysis; Discriminant Analysis; free amino acids; Heterotrigona itama; Honey; Honey - analysis; Hydroxyproline; Least-Squares Analysis; Market prices; Moisture content; Origins; partial least square-discriminant analysis (pls-da); Phenylalanine; physicochemical characteristics; Plants - chemistry; Proline; Reproducibility of Results; stingless bee honey; Sugar; Sugars - analysis; Water content; stingless bee honey; partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA); chemometrics analysis; antioxidants properties; free amino acids; physicochemical characteristics
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules24213898

Stingless bee honey produced by
from different botanical origins was characterised and discriminated. Three types of stingless bee honey collected from acacia, gelam, and starfruit nectars were analyzed and compared with
honey. The results showed that stingless bee honey samples from the three different botanical origins were significantly different in terms of their moisture content, pH, free acidity, total soluble solids, colour characteristics, sugar content, amino acid content and antioxidant properties. Stingless bee honey was significantly different from
honey in terms of physicochemical and antioxidant properties. The amino acid content was further used in the chemometrics analysis to evaluate the role of amino acid in discriminating honey according to botanical origin. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed that the stingless bee honey was completely distinguishable from
honey. Notably, a clear distinction between the stingless bee honey types was also observed. The specific amino acids involved in the distinction of honey were cysteine for acacia and gelam, phenylalanine and 3-hydroxyproline for starfruit, and proline for
honey. The results showed that all honey samples were successfully classified based on amino acid content.