PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL STATUS OF HONEY OF HIVE BEES
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Date
2020-10
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NAUNI,UHF
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The study was intended to evaluate the physico-chemical, microbial and antibacterial characteristics of
hive bees (Apis cerana and Apis mellifera) honey from different locations of Himachal Pradesh. The various
physico-chemical parameters viz., pH, moisture, colour, sucrose, F:G ratio, acidity, phenols and hydrogen
peroxide content ranged from 3.40 to 4.70, 15.70 to 18.60 per cent, 0.29-1.24 (white to light amber), 3.15 to
3.60 per cent, 1.06 to 1.73, 29.8 to 38.62 meq/kg, 57.90 to 99.65 mg/100g and 131.93-286.97 mg/kg,
respectively for A. cerana honey, whereas 3.60 - 4.80, 15.90 to 18.00 per cent, 0.33 to 0.66 (white to light
amber), 2.89 to 3.43 per cent, 1.09 to 1.72, 29.6 to 39.84 meq/kg, 63.29 to 101.67 mg/100g and 122.40-208.73
mg/kg, respectively for A. mellifera honey. Comparative analysis showed that A. cerana honey had highest
moisture (17.38%), OD (0.50), sucrose (3.33) and H2O2(201.92 mg/kg) content whereas, significantly highest
acidity (36.32 meq/kg) and phenol content (82.40 mg/100g) was recorded for A. mellifera honey. Microbial
analysis demonstrated that a total of 26 bacterial morphotypes (14 from A. cerana and 12 from A. mellifera
honey) were obtained from honey of hive bees. No fungal isolate was recorded in any of the processed honey
samples. The overall bacterial load (log CFU/g) encountered in the honey of both the species varied from 3.404.26,
lower than the documented hazardous limit (105 cells/g), ensuring the safety of honey for human
consumption. Based on morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization (16S rRNA ribotyping), the
most dominant but morphologically different type of bacterial strains viz., HC3, HC5, HC6, HC8 and HM2
encountered from hive bees honey were identified as Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Bacillus subtilis subsp.
stercoris, Bacillus safensissubsp. safensis, Bacillus zanthoxyliand Bacillus safensissubsp. safensis, respectively
and were assigned with NCBI GenBank assession no. as MT742636, MT742637, MT742638, MT742639 and
MT938911, respectively. The antibacterial potential (agar well diffusion) and MIC values demonstrated that
the honey of hive bees displayed good (21-30mm) to excellent (31-40mm) inhibition activity against
Escherichia coli ATCC1041 whereas, fair (10-20mm) to good inhibition activity against Bacillus subtilis
ATCC6633, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC10662, Salmonella typhi NCTC786 and Klebsiella pneumoniae
ATCC13883. E. coli was the most sensitive bacterium among all the tested pathogens The antibacterial activity
of honey explicates its use as therapeutic agent, for the treatment of various ailments caused by pathogenic
bacteria. The honey of A. cerana and A. mellifera from Himachal Pradesh is of good quality as values of all the
analyzed parameters were within approved limits by FSSAI (2018