Floral origin, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Some Floral Honey

Abstract

The study was aimed to assess botanic origin, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity and physicochemical properties of four honey samples were collected in Turkey. The melissopalynologic results revealed that Sample 1 and 2 are polyfloral, and others are unifloral. Total contents of phenolics (116.47-1711.13 mg GAE/100g) and flavonoids (1.46-27.25 mg CAE/100g) were analyzed, and the antioxidant activities measured by ferrous ion chelating activity (FICA) (71.32-93.35%), hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (HPSA) (SC 50 : 217.8-1238.39 µg/mL), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging (SC 50 : 20.15-27.14 µg/mL), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (SC 50 : 22.93-308.17 µg/mL) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (71.03-99.54%) differed notably. For comparison of the samples, butylated hydroxy anisol (BHA), rutin (RUT) and trolox (TRO) were used as standard antioxidant compounds. According to these results, samples showed more efficient antioxidant activity than TRO except for ABTS assay. Also, Sample 1 and 4 have higher FICA activity and Sample 2 and 3 demonstrated more FRAP activity than standards. Honey samples demonstrated an inhibitory effect on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, according to agar diffusion assays and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values.