Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Some Types of Honey from Banat Region, Romania
Silvia Pătruică,
Ersilia Alexa,
Diana Obiștioiu,
Ileana Cocan,
Isidora Radulov,
Adina Berbecea,
Roxana Nicoleta Lazăr,
Eliza Simiz,
Nicoleta Maria Vicar,
Anca Hulea,
Dragoș Moraru
Affiliations
Silvia Pătruică
Faculty of Bioengineering of Animal Resources, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului nr.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Ersilia Alexa
Faculty of Food Engineering, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Diana Obiștioiu
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Ileana Cocan
Faculty of Food Engineering, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Isidora Radulov
Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Adina Berbecea
Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Roxana Nicoleta Lazăr
Faculty of Bioengineering of Animal Resources, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului nr.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Eliza Simiz
Faculty of Bioengineering of Animal Resources, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului nr.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Nicoleta Maria Vicar
Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Anca Hulea
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului no. 119, 300645 Timişoara, Romania
Dragoș Moraru
Faculty of Bioengineering of Animal Resources, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of România” from Timișoara, Calea Aradului nr.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Honey is a natural product with multiple health benefits. The paper presents the chemical characterization and the antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of ten types of honey (knotweed, linden, wild cherry, acacia, honeydew, oilseed rape, sunflower, phacelia, plain polyflora and hill polyflora) from the Banat region, Romania. We studied the water content, dry matter, impurities, acidity and pH of honey. We also determined the content of reducing sugar, minerals and flavonoids and the total phenolic content. All honey samples analysed showed good nutritional characteristics according to the standard codex for honey. From the analysis of the mineral content of the honey samples, we observed a variability in the macro and microminerals, influenced by the botanical origin, ranging between 0.25% (wild cherry honey) and 0.54% (honeydew). The toxic metals’ (Cd and Pb) levels met the standard for almost all samples analysed except for knotweed. The flavonoid content of the samples ranged from 9.29 mg QE/100 g for wild cherry honey to 263.86 mg QE/100 g for linden honey, and for polyphenols between 177.6 mgGAE/100 g for acacia honey and 1159.3 mgGAE/100 g for honeydew. The best antioxidant capacity was registered in the case of linden honey (79.89%) and honeydew (79.20%) and the weakest in acacia (41.88%) and wild cherries (50.4%). All studied honey samples showed antimicrobial activity, depending on the type of honey, concentration and strain analysed. The novelty of this study is given by the complex approach of the study of honey quality, both from the perspective of chemical attributes and the evaluation of the antimicrobial potential on specific strains in correlation with the botanical and geographical origin of the analyzed area.
