Affiliation:
1. King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand
2. University of Phayao, Thailand
3. Oregon State University, USA
4. Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Abstract
In Thailand, there have been limited investigations on the antibacterial properties of stingless bee honey. The purpose of this research is to investigate the physicochemical and antibacterial characteristics of five stingless bee species, including Lepidotrigona flavibasis, L. doipaensis, Lisotrigona furva, Tetragonula laeviceps species complex, and T. testaceitarsis complex from two geographical locations in Thailand: North (Chiang Mai) and Southeast (Chanthaburi). The moisture content from five species of stingless bee ranged from 27.6 to 32.0 g/100g. The range of pH in stingless bee honey was 3.5 to 3.8, which is slightly lower than the pH of Apis mellifera honey. The total acidity of stingless bee honey ranged from 44.0 to 216.9 meq/kg. The antimicrobial property of honey samples was investigated by the agar disc-diffusion method followed by MIC/MBC assay. Notably, with the exception of L. furva, stingless bee honeys were shown to exhibit antibacterial against the Gram-negative bacteria greater than Gram-positive bacteria.