Evaluating the Antioxidant Properties of Unifloral Honey (Apis mellifera L.) from Ethiopia

Abstract

The antioxidant properties of natural honey primarily rely on the floral origin from which nectar is collected by bees. Thus, the current activity evaluated the antioxidant properties of honey based on its floral type. The honey floral origin was verified by the melissopalynological technique. Antioxidant properties were determined by using standard procedures and analyzed by SAS. Six unifloral honey types with their harvesting month were identified. Accordingly, Guizotia (74% of pollen frequency), Coffea arabica (68%), Vernonia (90%), Croton macrostachyus (64%), Schefflera abyssinica (100%), and Eucalyptus (100%) were cropped in November, February, February, May, April, and June separately. Statistically, a variation ( p < 0.05 ) in antioxidant parameters was displayed between unifloral honeys. Vernonia honey exhibited the maximum total phenol ( 77.2 ± 0.7 ), total flavonoid ( 65.0 ± 3.8 ), and total antioxidant content ( 65.4 ± 0.3 ). On the other hand, S. abyssinica honey recorded the least total phenol content ( 24.1 ± 0.4 ), total flavonoid content ( 18.6 ± 2.7 ), and total antioxidant content ( 5.6 ± 0.5 ). Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between all the tested antioxidant parameters. Thus, the current study indicated that all the tested Ethiopian unifloral honey had good sources of antioxidants with the most Vernonia honey followed by C. macrostachyus whereas S. abyssinica honey had the least followed by Eucalyptus.

Full text

Research Article
Evaluating the Antioxidant Properties of Unifloral Honey
(Apis mellifera L.) from Ethiopia
Ofijan Tesfaye
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Haro Sebu Agricultural Research Center, Oromia, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Ofijan Tesfaye; apistesfaye@gmail.com
Received 31 March 2023; Revised 1 June 2023; Accepted 28 June 2023; Published 15 July 2023
Academic Editor: Mohamad Djaeni
Copyright © 2023 Ofijan Tesfaye. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The antioxidant properties of natural honey primarily rely on the floral origin from which nectar is collected by bees. Thus, the
current activity evaluated the antioxidant properties of honey based on its floral type. The honey floral origin was verified by the
melissopalynological technique. Antioxidant properties were determined by using standard procedures and analyzed by SAS. Six
unifloral honey types with their harvesting month were identified. Accordingly, Guizotia (74% of pollen frequency), Coffea
arabica (68%), Vernonia (90%), Croton macrostachyus (64%), Schefflera abyssinica (100%), and Eucalyptus (100%) were
cropped in November, February, February, May, April, and June separately. Statistically, a variation (p<0:05) in antioxidant
parameters was displayed between unifloral honeys. Vernonia honey exhibited the maximum total phenol (77:2±0:7), total
flavonoid (65:0±3:8), and total antioxidant content (65:4±0:3). On the other hand, S. abyssinica honey recorded the least
total phenol content (24:1±0:4), total flavonoid content (18:6±2:7), and total antioxidant content (5:6±0:5). Statistical
analysis showed a positive correlation between all the tested antioxidant parameters. Thus, the current study indicated that all
the tested Ethiopian unifloral honey had good sources of antioxidants with the most Vernonia honey followed by C.
macrostachyus whereas S. abyssinica honey had the least followed by Eucalyptus.
1. Introduction
Free radicals are formed in our body during a chemical reac-
tion and lead to damage our cell. It's inhibited by antioxidants
produced during our daily natural food. As indicated by Wu
and Cederbaum [1], free radicals are too sensitive as they form
a bond with other substances, particles, or individual electrons
to produce a constant compound and reactive oxygen species
take place. This causes many diseases like the formation of
cancer, infection, getting old, pathogenesis and development
of diabetes [2], circulatory illness, immunity failure, degenera-
tive diseases of the nervous system , heart and lung diseases,
and eye problem [3]. Eating natural antioxidants from natural
products like honey is active in the hindrance of prolonged ill-
nesses that have amplified in current time [2, 4].
Honey is a normal nutritive antioxidant whose composi-
tion is accountable for the redox properties, namely, flavo-
noids, phenols, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals [5]. Honey
is synthesized by bees either from a single plant (its honey is
called unifloral honey) or multiple plant species (its honey is
known to be multifloral honey), and honey antioxidant activ-
ities are determined by its plant and geographical origin,
humidity, temperature, climate, and environment condition
[6]. The unifloral and multifloral honey sample is authenti-
cated by the melissopalynological method, and taxon of the
pollen is typically used to point out the plant nectar origin col-
lected by bees to synthesize honey [7]. Ethiopia has more than
ten million colonies, and above eight hundred recognized bee
plant [8]. Moreover, the suitability of geographical position,
plant diversity, and climatic conditions in Ethiopia makes
the topmost honey producer in Africa and tenth from the
worldwide [9]. The goal of this work was to screen the antiox-
idant properties of unifloral honey harvested in Ethiopia.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Sample Assortment. It was collected as of different areas
of the country based on the accessibility of unifloral honey,
Hindawi
International Journal of Food Science
Volume 2023, Article ID 7664957, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/7664957

and their latitude and longitude are indicated in Table 1.
Accordingly, C. arabica and C. macrostachyus honey from
Haro Sebu, Guizotia honey from Nejo, Vernonia honey from
Gedo, Eucalyptus honey from Holota, and S. abyssinica
honey from Bore were collected from farmer beekeepers'
apiary site based on their honey harvesting calendar. An
overall 30 kg (sample size) of honey trials for each unifloral
honey type, from 30 dissimilar apicultures (around 1 kg per
farmer) of the study site, has taken. Then after, the represen-
tative trials were transported to the University of Addis
Ababa, Lab. of Food Science, using sterilized beaker. At the
time of cropping, visual remarking of hive environs was
done besides group discussion with skilled apicultures of
every site to acquire the nectar origin of the samples and
flowering bee plants available in the site.
2.2. Floral Source Analysis. The technique of Louveaux et al.
[7] was used. Hence, 10 g of honey was added in 20 mL of
sterile distilled water. The honey solution was centrifuged
at 3800 rpm for 10 minutes, and the supernatant was poured
out. Then, 20 mL of distilled water was again added to
completely dissolve the remaining sugar crystals and centri-
fuged at 3800 rpm again for 5 minutes, and the supernatant
was removed completely. The sediment was spread evenly
using a sterile micro spatula on the microscope slide, and
the sample was dried for a while. Thereafter, one drop of
glycerin jelly was added to the coverslip, and the pollen
grains were identified using a pollen atlas [8] which was pre-
pared for plant identification from honey sample. Moreover,
pollen morphology types were verified by comparison with
reference slides of pollen assorted directly from the live
flower plants in the study area. Then after, bee plant species
from honey sample was identified; their contribution to bees
(pollen, nectar, or both) and life form was known at field and
different literatures [7, 8]. The percentage of pollen types in
each honey sample was calculated based on the total number
of different types of pollen grains counted in each sample.
Accordingly, if >45% of counted pollen grain was from spe-
cific plant species, it was categorized under predominant
pollen (monofloral honey); if 16-45%, secondary pollen; if
3-15%, important minor pollen; and if <3%, minor pollen,
while honey sample with no predominant pollen was used
as mixed honey type [7]. The pollen count was determined
under a light microscope (Swift Instrument International,
serial number 8750038, Japan, high power 400x) linked to
a computer.
2.3. Antioxidant Properties of Honey
2.3.1. Total Phenolic Contents. The phenol content of uni-
floral honey was assessed by the Folin-Ciocalteu method
[5]. Honey stock solution was formed by dissolving 2 g of
the honey in 25 mL of distilled water and strained by What-
man no. 1. Then, 0.5 mL aliquot from stock solution was
mixed with 2.5 mL of 0.2 N Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and
stored for 5 min. A 2 mL of 75 g/L sodium carbonate solution
was added to the solution and incubated for 2 h at 25
°
C.
Finally, the absorbance of the mixture was calculated at
765 nm using UV (PerkinElmer Lambda 950 UV/VIS/NIR
Spectrophotometer). A standard chemical taken to create a
calibration curve was gallic acid (0-200 mg/L) as a control.
Lastly, composition of total phenol was stated as milligrams
of gallic acid per one hundred grams of honey from an aver-
age result of triplicate data. The calibration formula
(y=11:474x+0:034;R2=0:9947) was derived from the cal-
ibration curve (Figure 1).
2.3.2. Total Flavonoid Content (TPC). The procedure by
Chua et al. [5] was used. For this, a mixture of 5 g honey
Table 1: Latitude and longitude of each locations of unifloral
honey sampled.
No. Location Latitude Longitude
1 Haro Sebu 8
°
44′59.99″N35
°
19′60″E
2 Nedjo 10
°
49′21″N35
°
14′19″E
3 Gedo 9
°
01′0″N37
°
27′0″E
4 Holota 9
°
4′0″N38
°
30′0″E
5 Bore 6
°
21′35″N38
°
37′20″E
6 Haro Sebu 8
°
44′59.99″N35
°
19′60″E
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Absorbance
Concentration of phenol
y = 11.474x + 0.034
R2 = 0.9947
Figure 1: Calibration curve for phenol.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
Absorbance
Concentration (mg/ml)
y = 4.22x + 0.1303
R2 = 0.995
Figure 2: Calibration curve for flavonoid.
–0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14
Absorbance
Concentration
y = –8.998x + 1.0554
R2 = 0.9901
Figure 3: Calibration curve for ascorbic acid.
2 International Journal of Food Science

Table 2: Honey plants identified from each of the honey types.
Site Harvesting
time Scientific name Family name Vernacular name
(Afaan Oromo) Life form Resources
for bees
Pollen grain
counted (%)
Frequency
class Honey type
Nedjo November
Guizotia spp. Asteraceae Tufo/nuugii Herb P & N 74.1 PP
Monofloral
(Guizotia spp.) honey
Bidens spp. Asteraceae Maxxannee Herb P & N 5.9 IMP
Trifolium spp. Fabaceae Siddisa Herb P & N 4.1 IMP
Eucalyptus spp. Myrtaceae Baargamoo Tree P & N 4.1 IMP
Grass type Poaceae Gosamargaa Herb P & N 3.0 IMP
Plantago lanceolata Plantaginaceae Qorxobbii Herb P 2.6 MP
Sesamum indicum Pedaliaceae Saalixa Herb P & N 1.8 MP
Allophylus abyssinicus Sapindaceae Sarara Tree P & N 1.6 MP
Vicia faba Papilionaceae Baaqelaa Herb P & N 1.5 MP
Lepidium sativum Brassicaceae Feexoo Herb P & N 1.1 MP
Brassica carinata Brassicaceae Raafuu Herb P & N 0.2 MP
Satureja paradoxa Lamiaceae Xinaaddama Herb P & N 0.04 MP
Haro Sebu February
Coffea arabica Rubiaceae Buna Shrub P & N 68.0 PP
Monofloral (C. arabica)
honey
Vernonia spp. Asteraceae Gosaeebichaa Shrub P & N 17.46 SP
Terminalia spp. Combretaceae Birdheessa/dabaqqa Tree P & N 5.16 IMP
Guizotia spp. Asteraceae Tuufoo/hadaa Herb P & N 3.67 IMP
Apodytes dimidiata Icacinaceae Qumbaala Tree P & N 2.15 MP
Bidens spp. Asteraceae Keelloo Herb P & N 1.57 MP
Hypoestes triflora Acanthaceae Darguu Herb P & N 1.22 MP
Plantago lanceolate Plantaginaceae Qorxobbii Herb P & N 0.60 MP
Galiniera saxifraga Rubiaceae Mixoo Shrub P & N 0.53 MP
Justicia schimperiana Acanthaceae Dhummuuggaa Shrub P & N 0.35 MP
Bersama abyssinica Melianthaceae Lolchiisaa Tree P & N 0.35 MP
Rumex nervosus Polygonaceae Dhangaggoo Shrub P & N 0.15 MP
Euphorbia ampliphylla Euphorbiaceae Adaamii Tree P & N 0.13 MP
Haro Sebu May
Croton macrostachyus Euphorbiaceae Bakkanniisa Tree P & N 64.42 PP
Monofloral
(C. macrostachyus) honey
Syzygium guineense Myrtaceae Baddeessaa Tree P & N 14.03 IMP
Eucalyptus spp. Myrtaceae Baargamoo Tree P & N 12.57 IMP
Acacia spp. Myrtaceae Laaftoo Tree P & N 7.81 IMP
Justicia schimperiana Acanthaceae Dhummuuggaa Shrub P & N 0.55 MP
Rumex nervosus Polygonaceae Dhangaggoo Shrub P & N 0.38 MP
Coffea arabica Rubiaceae Buna Shrub P & N 0.27 MP
Guizotia spp. Asteraceae Tuufoo Herb P & N 0.16 MP
Bidens spp. Asteraceae Keelloo/
Maxxannee Herb P & N 0.03 MP
3International Journal of Food Science

Table 2: Continued.
Site Harvesting
time Scientific name Family name Vernacular name
(Afaan Oromo) Life form Resources
for bees
Pollen grain
counted (%)
Frequency
class Honey type
Gedo February
Vernonia spp. Asteraceae Eebicha/Reejjii Shrubs P & N 90 PP
Vernonia
(monofloral) honey
Eucalyptus
camaldulensis Myrtaceae Baargamoo Tree P & N 3.02 IMP
Hypoestes triflora Acanthaceae Darguu Herb P & N 2.6 MP
Apodytes dimidiata Icacinaceae Qumbaala Tree P & N 1.4 MP
Plantago lanceolate Plantaginaceae Qorxobbii Herb P & N 1.3 MP
Cardus nyassanus Asteraceae Qoreeharree Herb P & N 1.04 MP
Rumex spp. Polygonaceae Dhangaggoo Shrub P & N 1.04 MP
Guizotia spp. Asteraceae Tuufoo Herb P & N 0.5 MP
Bore April Schefflera abyssinica Araliaceae Gatamaa Tree P & N 100 PP S. abyssinica
(monofloral) honey
Holota June Eucalyptus spp. Myrtaceae Baargamoo Tree P & N 100 PP Eucalyptus
(monofloral) honey
PP = predominant pollen (if >45% counted pollen grain was from specific plant species); SP = secondary pollen (16%-45%); IMP = important minor pollen (3%-15%); MP = minor pollen (<3%); P & N = pollen
and nectar.
4 International Journal of Food Science

in 50 mL distilled water was used as a honey stock solution,
and out of this, 5 mL was dropped in 5 mL of 2% AlCl
3
solu-
tion and incubated for 10 minutes. Then, its absorbance was
read at 415 nm by spectrophotometer. Then, for calibration
curve formulation, a standard chemical which is quercetin
(0-200 mg/L) as a control was chosen. This procedure was
triplicated and stated as milligrams of quercetin per 100
grams of honey from the averaged result of triplicate data.
The calibration equation (y=4:22x+0:1303;R2=0:995)
was derived from the calibration curve (Figure 2).
2.3.3. The Antioxidant Composition. It was founded by cal-
culating the ascorbic acid equal antioxidant capacity
(AAEAC) using usual procedures [10]. For this, 0.5 milli-
grams of DPPH was dissolved in twenty-five millilitres of
methanol to get DPPH solution. As well, 30 mg of honey
was mixed in millilitre methanol. Then after, 0.75 mL honey
solution was mixed in 1.5 mL of DPPH solution. After the
solution was incubated at room temperature for 15 min, its
absorbance was measured at 517 nm. A mixture of 0.75 mL
of a methanolic honey solution with 1.5 mL of methanol
was used as a blank. A calibration curve was produced from
a standard chemical: ascorbic acid (0-200 mg/L) (control).
The procedure was triplicated and stated as milligrams of
ascorbic acid per 100 grams of honey. The calibration equa-
tion (y=−8:998x+1:0554;R2=0:9901) was derived from
the calibration curve (Figure 3).
2.4. Statistical Analysis. Average and standard deviations
were calculated using SAS Software. Significant variation
between unifloral honeys was determined using one-way
ANOVA. Antioxidant parameters were used for mean sepa-
ration by least significant difference.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Floral Source Result. All floral honey source with their
characteristics such as harvesting time, life form, and
resource released for bees and pollen frequency category is
depicted in Table 2. Pollen pictures of bee floras that provide
unifloral honey are illustrated in Figure 4. All the time,
honey sample includes various pollen grains which provide
a good fingerprint of the geographical and botanical origin
where the nectar is collected from [11]. After the pollen
grain was counted and the percentage calculated, all honey
types were categorized as unifloral honey since their pollen
frequency was greater than 45%. Accordingly, there are six
unifloral honey types, namely, (1) Guizotia honey from the
Nedjo area harvested through November, (2) C. arabica
honey from the Haro Sebu area harvested through February,
(3) Vernonia honey from Gedo harvested through February,
(4) C. macrostachyus from Haro Sebu area harvested
through May, (5) S. abyssinica honey from Bore harvested
through April, and (6) Eucalyptus honey from Holota har-
vested through June. The percentage pollen frequency from
Guizotia,C. arabica,Vernonia,C. macrostachyus,S. abyssi-
nica, and Eucalyptus honey samples was 74, 68, 90, 64,
100, and 100, respectively (Figure 5).
Similarly, in Ethiopia, Guizotia,Vernonia,C. arabica,
and S. abyssinica honeys are harvested from November to
December, February, February through March, and April
through May [12], respectively. Not all flowering plants
equally contribute to the bees. Nectar quality (sugar con-
tent), potentiality, and abundance of the plant in a given area
contribute to cropping a unifloral honey (predominant pol-
len source). From this study, secondary pollen contributor
(Vernonia plant) has occurred in C. arabica honey. The
study area is well known in coffee production and when
flowered is abundantly found and stays for a short period
of flowering (less than 10 days). This is concurrent with
[13] who observed an overlapping of the Vernonia plant
flowering period with C. arabica from honey samples har-
vested from February through March.
3.2. Antioxidant Properties
3.2.1. Total Phenolic Content (TPC). The present study
screened honey samples between plant sources, and a very
significant disparity (p<0:05) of TPC was obtained in all
the tested honey types. TPC is articulated as milligrams of
gallic acid per 100 g of honey. It ranged from a mean of
24:1±0:4by S. abyssinica to 77:2±0:7by Vernonia
(Table 3). The current result is that the indication of Verno-
nia honey has a high antioxidant content followed by C.
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
Figure 4: Pollen pictures of bee floras that provide unifloral honey in Ethiopia: (a) Guizotia spp. (predominant pollen, 74.10%), (b)
Vernonia spp. (predominant pollen, 90.00%), (c) C. arabica (predominant pollen, 68.01%), (d) C. macrostachyus (predominant pollen,
64.42%), (e) S. abyssinica (predominant pollen, 100%), and (f) Eucalyptus spp. (predominant pollen, 100%).
74
90
68 64
100 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Pollen frequency in %age
Plant species
Guizotia spp
Vernonia spp
Coea arabica
Croton macrostachyus
Scheera abyssinica
Eucalyptus spp
Figure 5: Percentage of pollen grain frequency of unifloral honey
types.
5International Journal of Food Science

Table 3: Antioxidant properties between the tested unifloral types.
Parameters Unifloral types (average ±standard deviation)XLSD P-V CV
Vernonia honey C. macrostachyus honey Guizotia honey C. arabica honey Eucalyptus honey S. abyssinica honey
TPC (mg GAE/100 g of honey) 77:2±0:7
a
70:3±1:6
b
57:6±0:3
c
47:9±2:2
c
26:3±1:1
e
24:1±0:4
f
49.2 2.1 <0.0001 2.4
TFC (mg QE/100 g of honey) 65:0±3:8
a
53:4±0:5
b
31:5±0:7
d
39:7±2:2
d
26:2±0:2
e
18:6±2:7
f
40.4 3.8 <0.0001 5.4
AC (mg AAE/100 g of honey) 65:4±0:3
a
27:4±1:1
b
9:0±4:5
c
6:4±1:4
c
5:9±0:1
c
5:6±0:5
c
19.9 3.5 <0.0001 10
Different superscripts in a row vary statistically at a 1% probability level. Note: mg GAE/100g of honey = milligrams of gallic acid equivalent in 100 g of honey; mg QE/100 g of honey = milligrams of quercetin
equivalent in 100 g of sample; mg AAE/100 g of honey = milligrams of ascorbic acid equal in hundred grams of honey; X= mean; LSD = least significant difference; P-V = pvalue; CV = coefficient of variation in %
age.
6 International Journal of Food Science

macrostachyus while S. abyssinica honey is a weak antioxi-
dant compound content.
The total phenol substance in honey is examined by TPC
which is a fast and simple technique [5]. Moreover, Al et al.
[14] demonstrated that TPC was an adequate parameter for
an overall phenol approximation in honey and is directly
interconnected to the antioxidant action of honey. Further-
more, number of phenols found in the honey sample highly
relies on the floral source from which honey is synthesized
and is one of the greatest vital classes of substances existing
in honey [15].
The TPC of the current study is less than that of Malay-
sian honey (110.4-196.5 milligram GAE in hundred gram
honey) [5] and Sudanese honey (201:1±2:5milligram
GAE in hundred gram honey) [16]. However, it is found
higher than in Germany (4.6 mg/100 g honey) [17] and Slo-
venia (4.48 mg GAE/100 g honey) [18]. This finding was
found within the reported ranges of Northeast Brazilian
honey (27.0 to 92.7 mg GAE/100 g) [19] and Ethiopian honey
(233:3±24:0mg GAE/kg to 693:3±26:8mg GAE/kg) [20].
Nevertheless, as in my study, comparable and higher TPC
was investigated by V. amygdalina (693:3±26:8mg
GAE/kg) followed by C. macrostachyus (574:2±40:8mg
GAE/kg) [20] which is an observer of phenolic content
in honey is an indication of its floral source. On the other
side, the difference in TPC might be due to floral and
environmental origin, method of honey harvesting, dura-
tion of honey storage, laboratory procedure, and chemical
and reagents used during the laboratory analysis.
3.2.2. Total Flavonoid Content (TFC). It is stated as milli-
grams of quercetin per 100 g of honey. The presence of fla-
vonoid significantly contributes to the overall antioxidant
action of honey, hence take positive properties on human
healthiness [21, 22]. An important disparity (p<0:0001)
was cropped among all honey types. As with the TPC, the
lowest and highest TFC results of the current study ranged
from 18:6±2:7by S. abyssinica honey to 65:0±3:8by Ver-
nonia honey (Table 3). Comparably, [23, 24] demonstrated
that honey samples with higher phenolic substance will sim-
ilarly yield high flavonoid. The flavonoid from the current
finding was greater than honey from Turkey (1.1 to 9.2 mil-
ligram QE/100 g) as of A. mellifera [25] and marketable
honey from Portugal (1:7±0:8milligram QE/100 g in cit-
rus) from A. mellifera [26].
3.2.3. Antioxidant Content (AC). AC of the current study is
defined as milligrams of ascorbic acid equal in hundred
grams of the sample. As those of TPC and TFC, Vernonia
honey demonstrated the highest AC (65:4±0:3) followed
by C. macrostachyus (27:4±1:1). However, statistically sim-
ilar (p>0:05) and less AC was obtained by
Guizotia(9:0±4:5), C. arabica (6:4±1:4), Eucalyptus spp.
(5:9±0:1), and S. abyssinica honey (5:6±0:5)(Table3).
The surprisingly highest result was obtained from Vernonia
honey in TPC, TFC, and AC.
The AC of the current result was comparable to those
from Malaysian honey that recorded an average of 14.23 to
26.64 mg AEAC/100 g [27], Pakistani natural honey (8.30–
22.10 mg AEAC/100 g [28]), multifloral Burkina Fasan
honey (10.20–37.87 mg AEAC/100 g [29]), and Czech honey
from 14.15 to 40.71 mg AEAC/100 g [30] while less than
Manuka honey (84.47 mg/100 g) [27].
Comparably, Adgaba et al. [20] have recorded higher
antioxidant capacities by V. amygdalina and C. macrosta-
chyus while multifloral and Guizotia scabra honey produced
relatively lower. The disparities in phytochemicals of the
particular honey floras and environmental origin could
bring variation in antioxidant properties. Similarly, differ-
ences in antioxidant activities of different honeys based on
floral and environmental origin and seasonal factors are well
testified [31, 32].
3.2.4. Correlation between TPC, TFC, and AC. The correla-
tion matrix is depicted in Table 4. A strong and significant
positive correlation was observed among TPC and TFC
(r=0:80,p<0:0001) and TPC and AC (r=0:70,p<0:01).
Besides, TFC and AC showed a moderate and important
positive association (r=0:69,p<0:001). From the current
result, the antioxidant properties of any honey type are
determined by its phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant con-
tents. As the phenolic content of a given honey type
increases, then its flavonoid content is also increased and
their aggregation could exhibit high antioxidant compounds
of honey. The beneficial effect of honey on the health of
humans is determined by its phenolic and flavonoid con-
tents. The total phenolic substance in honey is sensitive to
polyphenol entities, ascorbic acid, and vitamin E [33].
Comparable correlation with the current study was
obtained between TPC and TFC (r=0:776) and TFC and
AC (0.730) [24]. In contradiction with this finding, there is
no correlation between TPC and AC (0.165) from Algeria
[24] and Czech [30]. A. mellifera honey was observed. How-
ever, a highly positive correlation between AEAC and TPC
(r=0:968) from Malaysian raw honey [27] and a positive
association between flavonoid, phenolic, and antioxidant
activities in Brazilian honey [34] were exhibited which are
similar with this result.
4. Conclusion
This study showed that the country has a potential for crop-
ping different brands of honey owing to the availability of
dominant honey plant diversity in a different environments.
No study was carried out on the harvesting period and antiox-
idant properties of honey based on floral origin. Unifloral
honey types, namely, Guizotia,C. arabica,Vernonia,C.
macrostachyus,S. abyssinica,andEucalyptus,couldbe
cropped in November, February, February, May, April, and
Table 4: Pearson correlation between TPC, TFC, and AC.
TPC TFC AC
TPC 1
TFC 0.80375∗1
AC 0.8737∗0.77178∗1
∗is significant at a 1% probability.
7International Journal of Food Science

June, respectively, where they abundantly occurred and are
major honey plants in Ethiopia. Based on the current result,
all the tested honey types exhibited good antioxidant proper-
ties with the highest TPC, TFC, and AC by Vernonia followed
by C. macrostachyus while S. abyssinica was the least followed
by Eucalyptus honey. Moreover, TPC, TFC, and AC had a
strong positive correlation and are important parameters for
the antioxidant constituents of the honey sample.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study
are available upon reasonable request from the relevant
author.
Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the Ethiopian Agricultural Research
Institute for financial support and Addis Ababa University,
College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Department
of Food Science, for antioxidant analysis. I also thank the
Holota Apiculture Research Center and botany laboratory
technician for the assistance in the melissopalynological
analysis. This research was carried out at Addis Ababa Uni-
versity, Department of Food Science, for antioxidant analysis
and Holota Apiculture Research Center for melissopalynolo-
gical analysis.
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