PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND MAJOR ELEMENTS CONTENTS OF ALGERIAN HONEYS FROM SEMI-ARID REGIONS

Lynda Haouam; Ali Tahar; Hélène Dailly; Anissa Lahrichi; Abdellah Chaqroune; Cherif Abdennour

doi:10.9755/ejfa.2015-04-064

Authors

Lynda Haouam Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences, University of Souk Ahras, Souk-Ahras 41000, Algeria
Ali Tahar Laboratory of Plant Biology and Environment, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University Badji Mokhtar-Annaba, Annaba 23000, Algeria
Hélène Dailly Beekeeping Centre of Research and Information (CARI), Place Cross South 4bte L7.07.09, 1348 Louvain-La Neuve, Belgium
Anissa Lahrichi Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah. BP 2626, Route d’
Abdellah Chaqroune Imouzzer 30000 Fez. Morocco
Cherif Abdennour Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah. BP 2626, Route d’

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9755/ejfa.2015-04-064

Keywords:

Honey, physicochemical properties, major elements, chemometric, semi-arid climate, Algeria

Abstract

The aim of this study is to characterize honeybees from semi-arid regions of North-east Algeria. Therefore, twenty artisanal honey samples (13 multifloral and 7 unifloral) were collected and then characterized on the basis of their physico-chemical parameters (free acidity, pH, moisture content, electrical conductivity, Ash and sugar content) and the mineral composition (Ca, K, Mg and Na). Results showed that these regions are characterized by low moisture and low percentage of major elements. However, potassium was the most abundant of all elements determined. A statistical analysis was carried out to identify the most signiﬁcant parameters and the chemometric methods used such as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) in order to classify the three types of honeys. The PCA indicated that the cumulative variance was 81.74% with the first four principal components variables. Therefore, the use of chemometric methods on the physico-chemical parameters and major elements is not a useful tool to characterize different types of honey originates regions with the same climate.