Influence of botanic and geographic origin on quality of honey from Tanzania.
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Date
2016
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture.
Abstract
In aview of the expanding global market, characterization of floral and geographic origins of honey has become a more important issue than ever. In general, prices of honey at the international market are set according to floral and geographic origin of the nectar, which relate to the chemical composition. This study was conducted to assess and characterize Tanzania honey from different floral origins and geographic zones based on physicochemical properties and minerals content, sugar profile, total phenol and antioxidant activities as well as sensory properties and consumer acceptability. Samples from two floral origins, Miombo and Acacia were collected from five different zones in Tanzania namely Central. Coastal. Lake. Northern and Southern zones and subjected to chemical and sensory analyses. Complete randomized block design with floral origin and
geographic zones as main principal factors were used to assess the effect of these factors on stated parameters.
Moisture content, ash, pH, acidity, viscosity and colour were determined as per methods described in AOAC (2005). Phenolic content was determined using modified Folin Ciocalteau method and antioxidant activity using Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay. Sugar profile and quantification was performed using Shimadzu high- performance liquid chromatograph equipped with refractive index detector (RID-10A) as per method 977.20 in AOAC (2005). Minerals: copper, zinc, lead, iron, calcium and magnesium were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectophotometer (AAS). sodium and potassium using flame photometer as described by AOAC standard methods (2005). Quantitative Descriptive sensory analysis was done using a panel of 8 trained judges using
9 point an unstructured line scale for rating the intensity of an attribute while consumers acceptability study was done using a 9 point hedonic scale as described by Lawless and
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Heyman (2010) to evaluate acceptability for the attributes of colour, aroma, viscosity and general acceptability. Data were analysed by R software for univariate Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) to determine significant variations between the main factors. Means were separated by Tukey's Honest significant differences at p < 0.05. Multivariate Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was done by Latentix software and Cluster analysis was done by Latentix and R software to determine the systematic variations in the study variables.
Most properties of honey varied significantly (p < 0.05) between geographical zones and floral origins with values of honey from Mioinbo floral origin being higher compared to honey samples from Acacia origin. Northern zone honey samples within Mioinbo origin had significantly (p < 0.05) higher moisture content, ash and acidity while Lake zone honey samples had significantly (p < 0.05) higher viscosity. Southern highland Mionibo honey samples had higher colour value on pfund scale. PCA results showed that colour and viscosity had more effect on the variability of physico chemical properties. Phenolic content (mg gallic acid equivalent/100g) and antioxidant activities as pM Fe2‘/100g were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the Northern zone than in other zones. Honey samples from Mioinbo had significantly higher values of 127.9 - 395.2 pM Fe2+/100g than Kcacia honey samples with values of 119.5 - 168.8 pM Fe27100g between floral origins. Bi plot
from principal component analysis, PCI explained 99.2% of variations and showed that both parameters (total phenol and antioxidant activity) had higher effect on the variability. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.929 and R2 = 0.869) between phenolic contents and antioxidant activities were observed in both Mioinbo and Acacia honey samples. respectively.
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There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in fructose, sucrose and total sugars between zones and floral origins. Fructose was found to be the most dominant sugar in the honey samples in each zone and floral origin with the highest contents observed in Acacia honey samples (44.7 - 47.0 g/lOOg) than their Miombo counterpart (39.5 - 42.0 g/lOOg). Glucose, the second dominant sugar was not significantly (p > 0.05) different between
floral origins and among zones. Sucrose occurred in small amounts in honey samples from all zones and floral origins. The variation of each sugar between zones within each origin were also significant (p < 0.05) with Northern zone had the highest content of total sugar. PCI bi plot explained 90.7% of total variations with high contribution from fructose and total sugars. Potassium was observed to be the most abundant macro minerals in the honey samples (380.2 - 3488.1 ppm) followed by magnesium (128.1 - 2409.5 ppm), calcium (86.3 - 336.6 ppm) and sodium (78.1 - 165.3 ppm) while iron was the most abundant
micro minerals (24.5 - 36.0 ppm) followed by zinc (2.5 - 8.7 ppm) and copper (0.2 - 0.5 ppm). The northern zone honey samples from both floral origins had lead contents above maximum allowed limits as per Tanzania honey standard. The variations in macro minerals between zones were significant with Northern zone having higher contents of Ca. Mg, K and Na in samples originating from Miombo floral origin. Furthermore, the variations in mineral contents between floral origins were also significant with honey samples from Miombo floral origin having significantly much higher content of minerals than Acacia honey samples. Multivariate cluster analysis revealed grouping/similarities of zones according to the mineral they contain.
In quantitative descriptive analysis, variations in mean intensity scores of attributes between zones were significant (p < 0.05) in aroma, clarity, hue, viscosity and whiteness, respectively for honey samples from Miombo origin. Southern zone showed high values in aroma and hue, Central zone had high viscosity values while Coastal zone had highest
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values in clarity and whiteness compared to other zones. In sample from Acacia origin. Northern zone had significantly (p < 0.05) highest scores in aroma, viscosity and whiteness where Lake zone had high values in clarity and Central zone had high values in hue.
Therefore, the study has revealed that fructose was the most abundant sugar in the honey samples while potassium and iron arc the most abundant macro and micro minerals in honey samples under the study. Furthermore, geographical zones and floral origins have significant influences on physical chemicals properties, total phenols and antioxidant activities sugar, minerals and sensory properties of honey samples from five geographical zones and two floral origins in Tanzania. It is therefore recommended that, honey be included in human diet due to its high nutritional and antioxidant properties. In addition, further research be undertaken to create a data base which will successfully enable characterization of Tanzania honey, thus increasing its competitiveness in the local and
international market.view
Description
Dessertation
Keywords
Botanic, Geographic Origin, Quality, Honey, Tanzania