Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 1;9(2):e13364.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13364. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Physico-chemical characteristics of honey produced from northeastern Ethiopia

Tilahun Abera  1 , Tewodros Alemu  2
Affiliations

Physico-chemical characteristics of honey produced from northeastern Ethiopia

Tilahun Abera et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

The research was carried out to determine the physico-chemical quality aspects of honey harvested from northeastern Ethiopia. Twenty four honey samples were collected from four locations and two hive types. R software was used to analyze the data. The average values were 14.47%, 0.28%, 28.22 meq/kg, 4.28, 48.48 mg/kg, 13.75 Goth scale, 2.56%, and 52.43% for moisture, ash, acidity, pH value, hydroxyl-methyl-furfural (HMF), diastase, sucrose, and reducing sugars, respectively. The honey of highlands (17.43%) was higher (P < 0.05) in moisture than lowland (14.48%) implicating highland lower in quality. Highland honey has a higher acidity (P < 0.05) probably due to soil nature. Honey from lowland, midland, and market were higher (P < 0.05) than highland in HMF. Diastase from traditional (16.32 Goth scale) was higher than frame hives (11.19 Goth scale), and sucrose from highland (3.88%) was higher (P < 0.05) than market (1.68%) although both were within the acceptable limits. Generally, the moisture, ash, acidity, diastase, sucrose, and pH contents of the honey were within the limits set for honey quality standards. However, in HMF and reducing sugars, it had not met the European standard. To make the honey exportable to international market, HMF and reducing sugars should be improved to the required level.

Keywords: Hive; Honey; Honeybee; Kallu; Quality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests. 1&2 = honey from modern hive from farmers' gate of lowland; 3&4 = honey from traditional hive from farmers' gate of lowland; 5&6 = honey from modern hive at farmers' gate of highland; 7&8 = honey from traditional hive at farmers' gate of highland; 9&10 = honey from modern hive at farmers' gate of midland; 11&12 = honey from traditional hive at farmers’ gate of midland; 13–18 = honey from modern hive of market; 19–24 = honey from traditional hive of market; HMF = hydroxyl methyl furfural; DN = diastase activity; RSC = reducing sugar content; SC = sucrose content; AcC = acid content; MC = moisture content; AsC = ash content.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Principal component analysis of the honeys and their physicochemical attributes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. MoARD . MoARD; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 2012. Annual Performance Report Of Ministry Of Agriculture And Rural Development.
    1. Tewodros A., Muluken G. Size of beeswax foundation sheet and productivity of honeybee colonies in northeastern Ethiopia. Bull. Anim. Health Prod. Afr. 2019;67:255–263.
    1. Tewodros A., Eyassu S., Amsalu B. Honeybee production practices in Sekota district, northern Ethiopia. Afr. J. Rural Develop. 2017;2(2):263–275.
    1. Chirsanova A., Capcanari T., Boistean A. Quality assessment of honey in three different geographical areas from Republic of Moldova. Food Nutr. Sci. 2021;12:962–977.
    1. MBS . second ed. Malawi Bureau of Standards; Blantyre, Malawi: 2021. Honey Specification.