Physicochemical and antioxidant properties of honey across bee species from North Eastern Hill region of India.

The present investigation focuses on the comprehensive assessment of the physico-chemical and antioxidant potential of honey samples from various bee species, Apis dorsata, A. florea, A. cerana himalaya, A. mellifera, Lepidotrigona arcifera, and Tetragonula sp. from the North Eastern Hill (NEH) region of India. This study reveals for the first time that honey of stingless bees, Lepidotrigona arcifera (LAH) and Tetragonula sp. (TSH) consistently excels in total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), proline content (PC) and total antioxidant activity-CUPRAC (TAAC) and total antioxidant activity-DPPH (TAAD). Total flavonoid content in honey was positively correlated with antioxidant activity. Proline content demonstrated strong positive correlations (0.80) with TAAC, indicating its influence on antioxidant potential and stability. Higher levels of total phenolic content were associated with greater antioxidant activity in honey samples. The principal component analysis (PCA) of physicochemical, and antioxidant properties of the honey produced by different species identified two principal components that explain almost 87.3% of the total variance of the data with the first component explaining 74.4%, second PCA explained an additional 12.9%. The PCA highlighted a clear distinction between species based on these biochemical markers, suggesting that honey from different species possesses unique compositional characteristics that could influence their quality and functional properties. Honey production has excellent potential in high-altitude areas, from which the branding of honey and export may be executed with suitable extension activities to promote beekeepers in the NEH region of India.