Determination of the concentration of some mineral elements and pollen spectra of Apis mellifera L. honeys from different locations in Nigeria

Abstract

Honey is a commonly preferred natural food product because it is composed of complex organic and inorganic substances that impart nutritional and therapeutic properties to it. Because the concentrations of these substances vary with location and affected by anthropogenic factors, it becomes pertinent to determine the level of occurrence of this substances necessary for quality assessment of honey. The aims of this study were to ascertain the concentrations of some major mineral elements (K, Ca, Mg, Na), some trace elements (Mn, Cr, Cu, Fe, Zn, Ni) as well as the pH and pollen spectra of honey samples sourced from six locations in Nigeria. The mineral elements which were analysed with Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) showed that the most abundant minerals were Ca and K, while Fe and Ni were the most abundant trace elements. The low level of the trace elements shows that the source environments of the honeys are uncontaminated. The results also showed that the honey samples were acidic with a range of 3.5 ± 0.02 – 4.72 ± 0.01 acidic level. Pollen analysis showed that the honeys were multiflora indicating that they were formed from multiple flora. Keywords: Mineral elements, Trace elements, pH, pollen, Multiple flora, Multiflora honey