IN VITRO ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF HONEY FROM CORIANDER ECOSYSTEM

Honey is a nutrient-rich, naturally sweet substance with medicinal properties.Its chemical composition depends on several factors such as the source flower, bee species, storage etc. Hence an in vitro analysis was conducted to assess the physiochemical and antioxidant properties of honey collected from the hives placed in coriander ecosystem.The honey collected from little bee, Apis florea F. and Stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis S., colonies placed in coriander ecosystem, was compared with multifloral Indian Bee, A. cerana indica honey and T. iridipennis honey purchased from bee keeping farms and, A. florea honey collected from natural hive.The results revealed that all the physiochemical properties were significantly different from each other and they were in the range of pH-3.53-4.98,EC-1.82-0.56mS/cm, ash content-34.4-65.6%,moisture content-18.38-25.15%proteins-37.32-56.00mg/100 g, free amino acids-0.21-0.33 mg/g, phenols (122 mg GAE/100 g) and flavonoids-2.29-5.51mg QE/100 g and all the values were high in the case of stingless bee honey from coriander field except flavonoids.The flavonoid content was maximum in the honey of A. florea collected from coriander field (5.51 mg QE/100 g).Antioxidant properties like AEAC, RSA and FRAP of honey samples had a range of 24.54-43.86mg/100 g, 28.28-81.14%and 0.26-0.66ABS/700 nm, respectively.The antioxidant properties were more in stingless bee honey from coriander field.Specifically, this honey exhibited superior levels of antioxidant activity, as measured by assays such as AEAC (Antioxidant Equivalent Activity), RSA (Radical Scavenging Activity), and FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power).These results suggest that the honey from the coriander field has enhanced potential for neutralizing harmful free radicals and protecting against oxidative stress, which may contribute to its medicinal and health-promoting properties.