article · Journal of Apicultural Research
Research examined how honey bee species influence the physical and chemical characteristics of sidr honey from identical botanical and geographical origins in eastern Saudi Arabia. Samples collected during the 2017 sidr season from Apis florea were compared with honey produced by two Apis mellifera subspecies, Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera jemenitica. Although all samples shared similar pollen profiles, their compositions differed markedly. Honey from Apis florea recorded the highest levels of moisture, protein, ash, free acidity, electrical conductivity, invertase activity, fructose, isomaltose, and trehalose. Honey from Apis mellifera carnica exhibited the highest pH, diastase number, glucose, and erlose. Honey from Apis mellifera jemenitica demonstrated the highest specific gravity, glucose oxidase activity, maltose, and turanose. These results demonstrate that honey bee species and subspecies impart distinct physicochemical profiles to honey, enabling differentiation between products derived from different bees.
Consumers and producers value honey for its specific nutritional and sensory qualities, but authenticating the exact origin and type can be difficult. By demonstrating that distinct bee species produce measurably different sugar, enzyme, and physical profiles from the same floral source, this research provides a scientific basis for identifying and validating the entomological origin of high-value honeys.
This work could assist testing laboratories, apiculture regulators, and premium honey producers seeking methods to authenticate bee product origins and detect mislabelling. By establishing distinct chemical and physical benchmarks for different honey bee species, it supports quality control and product differentiation. As an analytical characterisation study based on apiary sampling, the findings represent early-stage research that requires further validation across larger sample sizes before deployment in commercial certification.
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This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between species of honey bees and properties of their produced honey. Honey samples were obtained during sidr (Ziziphus spp.) season flow in 2017 from the apiary of the Training and Research Station, King Faisal University in the Al-Ahsa oasis of eastern Saudi Arabia. Physical characteristics and chemical composition of the honey produced by Apis florea (AF) were determined in comparison to the honey from the same botanical and geographical origins produced by two subspecies of Apis mellifera (AM): A. m. carnica (AMC) and A. m. jemenitica (AMJ). Melissopalynological analysis showed similar percentages of pollen grains from the major sources in all honey samples. The highest values of electrical conductivity, % moisture, % fructose, % isomaltose, % trehalose, % ash, % protein, free acidity, and invertase activity were found in the honey produced by AF. The highest values of % glucose, % erlose, pH, and diastase number were obtained from the honey produced by AMC. The highest values of specific gravity, % turanose, % maltose, and glucose oxidase activity were obtained from the honey produced by AMJ. It was concluded that the physicochemical characteristics of the honey can be correlated with the species of the honey bees producing the honey, and it is possible to differentiate between honeys produced by honey bees of different species or subspecies.
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DOI: 10.1080/00218839.2020.1746036
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