AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON HONEY PROCURED FROM VARIOUS DESHA

Abstract

Background: Honey is the excretions of insects sucking on the living parts of plants. It is used as Pathya, Anupana and medicine in treating various diseases. Moreover, this is also utilized in preparing various Ayurveda formulations. Ayurveda has enlisted various varieties of Honey based on origin and collecting honey bees. The properties of them are also depicted which enables the physician to select each variety of Honey in different clinical conditions. In an era of adulteration, various methods are available to detect good quality honey. However, place from where the Honey is collected and time of collection might impact on physico-chemical properties of collected Honey. Aims and Objectives: This study was planned to ascertain the changes in physico- chemical properties collected from various Desha viz. Jangala, Anupa and Sadharana Desha. Materials and methods: Honey was collected from Bidar (Jangala Desha), Shivamogga (Sadharana Desha) and Dakshina Kannada (Anupa Desha) of Karnataka state for physico-chemical analysis. Result: The study revealed that total sugar, moisture content, electrical conductivity, total ash and sediment content were highest in the honey collected from Anupa desha. Whereas, Protein, pH, colour intensity, optical density, viscosity, total bacterial count and total fungal count were found highest in Jangala desha honey. Conclusion: The study revealed that physico-chemical parameters of honey changes according to the place it is collected. Hence it can be concluded that, the diseases of Anupa Desha can be successfully treated with honey collected from Jangala Desha and vice versa due to contradictory physicochemical properties.