Palynological and Physicochemical Characterization of Honey in the Sudano-Guinean Zone of Cameroon

Abstract

The palynological and physico-chemical characterization of honey was investigated in the Sudano- Guinean zone of Cameroon through the melissopalynology analysis. Results showed that honey with the dark amber color was the most represented. Sweet honey with less odour considered as pleasant highly predominate. The pH of honey is low and varies from 3.95 to 5.00; this ranking confirms the hypothesis that honey is from plant through visit of honeybees. The sugar content is very high ranging from 77.93% to 83.13%; the mean value is 78.90% and this value confirms that the honey is floral honey. The density value ranges from 1.39 to 1.43 and does not exceed the average standard (1.39 to 1.44 at 20 ℃ ). Water contents correspond to the standards norms. For free acidity, the highest value is 48.68 ± 0.28. There is a low positive correlation (r = 0.2) between free acidity and the pH of honey. Pollen analysis of honeys led to the identification of 41 pollen species belonging to 25 families. The highly represented families are Asteraceae and Myrtaceae. Two thirds of honey is monofloral and characteristics of three dominant species: Nymphaea maculata, Terminalia avicennioides and Syzygium guineense . The pollens of Syzygium guineense are present in all honey samples analysed.