The physicochemical characteristics, antioxidant properties and botanical discrimination according to the organic acid content in Malaysian stingless bee honey were investigated. The results showed that the botanical origin and bee species significantly influenced the physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant properties of stingless bee honey. Principle component analysis (PCA) revealed that stingless bee honey was differentiable from Apis mellifera honey by acetic, citric, D-malic and tartaric. Starfruit could be distinguished from gelam and acacia honeys by lactic. Whereas the gluconic and succinic acids were confirmed as a marker to discriminate honey samples from Heterotrigona itama and Geniotrigona thoracica species. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Physicochemical parameters analysis was used in the identification of varietal honey from different botanical origin. Botanical origin is one of the important parameter to be known as a quality control to meet the legislated mandatory requirement during commercialization. This study assessed the influence of the botanical origin on the physicochemical properties of stingless bee honey or known as kelulut honey in state of Johor, Malaysia. The honey samples were collected in six different botanical origins namely acacia,coconut, mangrove, starfruit, multifruits and multiflowers produced by bee species of Heterotrigona itama. Tualang honey from bee species of Apis dorsata was included as a positive control. The physicochemical properties in terms of pH, moisture, ash content, electrical conductivity (EC) and colour intensity were measured. The result obtained revealed an average pH (3.40 ± 0.15), moisture (28.9 ± 2.69 g/100g), ash (0.37 ± 0.27 g/100g), electrical conductivity (0.11 ± 0.07) mS/cm, and colour intensity (692 ± 187) mAU. In general, the raw honey from state of Johor presented satisfactory quality according to the result obtained help in honey identification and authenticity as well as to sustain meliponiculture industry in Malaysia.

Malaysian stingless bee honey or locally known as kelulut honey is a natural substance that have been widely explored for their great nutritional and therapeutic values. Modern beekeeping practices in different botanical areas have produced different types of honey that has influence on their physical and chemical composition as well as their biological activity. The main objective of this research is to investigate in vitro xanthine oxidase (XO) enzyme inhibition of honey produced by Heterotrigona itama species obtained from different botanical origins; (acacia, coconut, mangrove, starfruit, multifruits and multiflowers). In addition, the phytochemical composition was analyzed using spectrophotometric. The result revealed that honey from mangrove area displayed highest phytochemical composition (phenolic and flavonoid) with the value of 34.23 mg GAE/100g and 31.02 mg RE/100g of honey, respectively. The XO inhibitory activity (IC50 values) of all tested honeys were ranging from 30 to 185 mg/ml. As a conclusion, kelulut honey exhibited good potentials towards the inhibition of xanthine oxidase activities and also suggest a practical value for surveying natural inhibitors for clinical purpose.