• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1052-1052
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• 2001

Hear infrared (NIR) spectra were measured, at five temperatures, for forty-eight samples of honey, from a variety of geographical and botanical sources, and the data has been used to explore the possibility of using NIR spectroscopy for testing label claims concerning the geographical and botanical source of honey being offered for sale to the public. These results demonstrate that the successful characterization of the botanical source of a honey may be obtained by NIR spectroscopy. Further work with large numbers of samples and groups will be required to realized this potential. Additional analysis of these data suggest that research into new ways of obtaining information on the change of absorption with temperature might be beneficial for a range of technologies.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2008

This study was carried out to investigate the quality characteristics of various honeys originating from different sources, and to identify factors potentially useful for distinguishing the honey sources. The sugar composition, moisture content and total acidity of twenty six honey samples were analyzed. The moisture contents were lowest in honeys from Acacia and were not greatly different with regard to honey sources. Fructose content was highest, followed by glucose, sucrose and maltose in all kinds of honey. Sugar composition did not show any reliable criterion useful for identifying the sources of honey samples. The fructose/glucose ratio did not differ among samples, however the ratios in honeys from Acacia and Chestnut were higher than honey from poly floral sources. The total acidity of honeys ranged 10.30-12.45 meq/kg regard-less of the source, thus acidity is not a useful criterion for identifying the honey source.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2020

Background: Pollen is an important source of protein and lipids for many animals including honey bees. In order to understand the foraging behaviour of honey bee colonies and preference among the available floral resources, pollen collections from three experimental healthy colonies of honey bees were analysed in the month of June. Results: The amount of pollen collections were related to the colony's need which was indicated by the number of larval and adult bees present in the hive. Interesting was the sequence of pollen collection from different floral sources. All honey bee colonies collected pollens from Trifolium repens first, then Erigeron annus and the third choice was Coreopsis drummondii and Oenothera biennis flowers. Total protein content of Trifolium pollen was the highest (20.0 g/100 g DM), and the others were in the range of 8.9-11.4 g/100 g DM. Conclusion: The results indicated that the first criteria for honey bee foraging preference of pollens would be the nutritional contents of protein and the resource availability of the lesser nutritious floral sources. This information can help pollinator protection programmes of habitat manipulation using flowering plants for nectar and pollen sources.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.293-304
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• 2021

Despite the consumption of bee brood in several parts of the world, particularly in the tropical areas, the practice has received comparatively little attention. We have reviewed all the available information on the nutrient composition and functional properties of different developmental stages of honey bee workers belonging to different species and subspecies. Noticing the competent nutrient composition of, in particular, honey bee brood, pupae, and prepupae, we suggest that they could be a potential source of human nutrition as well as animal feed. Moreover, drone brood is an ideal candidate for use as a food or as food ingredient. However, to analyze the functional properties of different honey bee species remains a task for further analysis.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1044-1049
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• 1999

Fermentation characteristics for the production of honey wine (mead and melomel) was investigated. Among the yeast strains tested, Saccharomyces bayanus showed higher alcohol production and better fermentability than the other strains at low temperature. Optimum pH and temperature for the production of honey wine by Saccharomyces bayanus were pH 4.0 and $20^{\circ}C$, respectively, and optimum soluble solid content of diluted honey solution for the fermentation was between 24 and $27^{\circ}Brix$. Total acidity and pH of honey wine (mead) did not change considerably during the whole period of fermentation, but those of Tangerine and Japanese apricot honey wine (melomel) changed during the fermentation. As the fermentation progressed, reducing sugar decreased continuously until the late period of fermentation, while alcohol content increased continuously during the same period. After fermentation of 21 days, honey wine consisted of about $8.5{\sim}9.1^{\circ}Brix$ of soluble solid, $1.90{\sim}2.32%$ of reducing sugar with the conversion rate of $90{\sim}92%$. After 21 days of fermentation, alcohol contents of mead fermented with polyflower and acasia flower were 13.3 and 13.7%, respectively. Final alcohol content was not affected significantly by the source of honey. While pH of the osmotically extracted fruit honey juice decreased rapidly to pH $2.92{\sim}2.97$ after 13 days of fermentation, total titratable acidity of Tangerine and Japanese apricot honey wine were 0.30 and 0.53%, respectively. After 13 days of fermentation, reducing sugar of fruit honey wines were reduced to $2.03{\sim}2.87%$, alcohol content were reached up to 13.1 and 12.5% for Tangerine and Japanese apricot honey wine, respectively. Generally, honey extracted fruit juices were fermented more efficiently than diluted honey juice.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.3103-3108
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• 2011

This work was aimed to evaluate supplementation of honey as sole carbon source on the fermentation characteristics of wine fermented with fruit of flowering cherry and honey(flowering cherry-honey wine). Physiochemical changes of flowering cherry-honey wine(2 L) were investigated during 30 days in fermentation by strain of Saccharomyces bayanus (EC-118). At the beginning of fermentation, fructose was most abundant sugar then glucose and sucrose were followed. As fermentation proceeded, utilization of glucose by S. bayanus (EC-118) was faster than fructose, so that the ratio of fructose/glucose was increased. During fermentation for 30 days, pH and viable yeast count was changed rapidly between 0 to 5 days, while $^{\circ}Brix$(%) decreased gradually for 30 days. Final total titratable acidity, pH, $^{\circ}Brix$(%) and ethanol content of flowering cherry-honey wine were 0.43%, pH 3.5, $9.7^{\circ}Brix$(%) and 14%, respectively. Our finding demonstrate that flowering cherry-honey could be benefical supplements for wine production.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.555-564
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• 2019

Biodiesel is produced through the transesterification process in the presence of alcohol and a catalyst that catalyzes the conversion of triglycerides to esters and glycerol compounds. A more optimal product conversion can be achieved using enzymes, such as lipase. Lipase is reported to be produced in osmophilic yeasts due to the low water content in their natural habitats. Wild forest honey is one of the osmophilic natural habitats in Indonesia. However, lipase-producing yeast has not been reported in the Indonesian honey. In this study, we screened the lipase-producing yeasts isolated from wild forest honey collected from Central Sulawesi. The production profile and activity of lipase were determined at different pH values and temperatures. One promising yeast was isolated from the honey, which was identified as Zygosaccharomyces mellis SG 1.2 based on ITS sequence. The maximum lipase production (24.56 ± 1.30 U/mg biomass) was achieved by culturing the strain in a medium containing 2% olive oil as a carbon source at pH 7 and 30℃ for 40 h. The optimum pH and temperature for lipase activity were 6 and 55℃, respectively. The enzyme maintained 80% of its activity upon incubation at 25℃ for 4 h. However, the enzyme activity decreased by more than 50% upon incubation at 35 and 40℃ for 2 h. This is the first study to report the lipase producing capability of Z. mellis. Further studies are needed to optimize the enzyme production.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2024

Background: Honey from different geographical origins can have distinct characteristics due to variations in the floral sources available to stingless bees in different regions. The most abundant stingless bee for meliponiculture in Thailand is Tetragonula pagdeni. However, only a few studies about the properties of honey from a different origin were carried out. The objective of this study was focused on a comparative study to evaluate the melissopalynological, physicochemical, antioxidant activities, and total phenolic contents (TPCs) of stingless bee honey produced by T. pagdeni from different parts of Thailand. Results: Fifty honey samples were collected from five locations, and the physicochemical properties of T. pagdeni honey samples are acidic (pH 3.02-4.15) and have a high water content (18.42-25.06 %w/w), which is related to the regions of meliponary. Melisopalynological analysis reveals the predominant pollen from Melaleuca quinquenervia, Cocus nuciferca, Nephelium lappaceum, Salacca wallichiana, and multiflora honey. All honey samples were analyzed for their TPC and 2,2-diphenyl1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. The results show that all samples had high TPC and antioxidant activities with a strong correlation (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The data from this study indicates the importance of geographical origin, which links physicochemical properties, phenolic compounds, and functional characteristics to their floral. Besides, the floral sources and harvesting location affected the properties of stingless bee honey. Our results identify Melaleuca honey as a promising source of phenolic content and antioxidant activity that can be used as a functional food, as well as multiflora and Cocus honey. However, further studies are required to characterize the phenolic compound and its biological potential, which could be a stingless bee honey biomarker and quality control, simultaneously with the physicochemical analysis.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.241-249
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• 2011

This study was conducted to analyze ash content, mineral composition, hydroxy methyl furfural (HMF) content, stable carbon isotope ratio, and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns to investigate the quality characteristics of various honeys harvested from different sources and to identify differences useful for distinguishing honey sources. Ash content was 0.046-0.012% in acacia honey, 0.565-1.318% in chestnut honey, 0.06-0.582% in polyfloral honey, and 0.237-0.893% in native bee honey. Potassium content was high in order of chestnut honey>native bee honey>polyfloral honey>acacia honey. The Na/K ratio was 0.92-1.97 in acacia honey, 0.02-1.59 in chestnut honey, 0.02-5.30 in polyfloral honey, and 0.22-0.51 in native bee honey. The HMF content was 9.60-12.85, 10.15-25.75, 9.7-33.5, and 6.25-21.5 mg/kg in acacia, chestnut, native bee, and polyfloral honeys, respectively. HMF content was the highest in native bee honey. A 59 kDa protein band was revealed in all samples by SDS-PAGE analysis. Protein bands of 32.1, 31.9, and 33.5 kDa were revealed in some chestnut honeys, and protein bands of 32.3 and 32.5 kDa were shown in native bee honeys. A protein band of 72 kDa was also confirmed in some chestnut honeys.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2022

Background: In northern Thailand, the longan flower is the principal nectar source for honey production. Microorganisms play a critical function in the agricultural ecology. The morphological characteristics of fungal species found in longan pollen were studied. Aspergillus spp. were found to be invertase-producing strains and were employed in the longan syrup production process. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of invertase-added longan syrup on the adult honey bee population numbers that were fed by this syrup for 16 weeks. Results: Different fungal species were found in longan pollen samples. Aspergillus was the main genus, with three predominant sections: Nigri, Flavi, and Terrei. Other isolated species were Trichoderma spp., Rhizopus spp., Neurospora spp., Chaetomium spp., Fusarium spp. and Penicillium spp. However, Aspergillus spp. is the only fungal species that produces the enzyme invertase. The invertase-producing strains belonging to the Aspergillus section Nigri were found to be A. niger LP5 with an optimum activity at pH 6.0 and 60℃. When A. niger LP5 invertase was used for longan syrup processing, the highest levels of glucose (3.45%) and fructose (2.08%) were found in invertase added longan syrup (C), while fresh (A) and boiled longan syrup (B) had lower contents of both sugars. The sucrose content was detected in (A) at 4.25%, while (B) and (C) were at 4.02% and 3.08%, respectively. An appropriate amount of sugar to feed and maintain the honey bee population was considered. The data showed no statistically significant differences between the two selected forms of longan syrup compared to the sugar syrup examined by the adult honey bee population. Conclusions: The main species of isolated fungi from longan pollen were Aspergillus spp. The discovery of an invertase-producing strain of A. niger LP5 has enabled its application for enzyme utilization in the invert sugar preparation process. The adult worker bee populations fed by longan syrup from both boiled and invertase-added sources showed an increasing trend. Artificial syrup made from longan fruit to feed honey bees when natural food sources are limited can be applied.