Abstract
In the dense tropical forests of Kalimantan, Apis dorsata produces forest honey with pollen diversity that has the potential to have unique antibacterial and antioxidant properties. This study is aimed to report the physicochemical characteristics, antioxidant activity and antibacterial analysis of forest honey from East Kalimantan. A total of nine samples of forest honey were purchased from local buyers of several regions. The power of hydrogen (pH), water content, diastase enzymes, fructose levels, and glucose levels were measured. Antioxidant activity was measured with ABTS assay. Antibacterial activity was conducted against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, and S. enterica serovar Typhi. Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) identified antibacterial functional groups. Honey samples from tropical forests in East Kalimantan had pH between 2.93±0.06 and 3.83±0.06, a moisture content between 18.44±0.64 and 25.67±0.29%, fructose levels between 7.85±0.05 and 17.73±0.13%, and glucose levels between 1.24±0.16 and 17.34±0.14%. Goa Tembenus honey showed the highest IC50 antioxidant activity and the highest Diastase Enzyme activity. Goa Tembenus and Bongan honey showed good antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative. Minimum inhibitory levels of honey were found at concentrations of 25% and 30%. Honey from tropical forests in East Kalimantan has H2O2 as an antibacterial component.
Highlights
Forest honey, harvested from Apis dorsata bee, has the potential as a source of micro-nutrition, i.e., antioxidant (Tuksitha et al, 2018)
The simple formula for measuring Diastase Number (DN) was DN = 300/t, where DN was the value of the Diastase Enzyme activity, and ‘t’ was the time required until the Absorbance value was reached
Forest honey originating from several areas of East Kalimantan forest has different diastase enzyme levels, water levels, power of hydrogen (pH) levels, sugar, antibacterial, and antioxidant content
Summary
Forest honey, harvested from Apis dorsata bee, has the potential as a source of micro-nutrition, i.e., antioxidant (Tuksitha et al, 2018). The honey-producing areas in East Kalimantan are mainly located in the Berau and Paser districts (Muslim, 2014). Forest-based honey potentials were identified in several other regions in East Kalimantan, such as North Penajam Paser Regency, Kutai Kertanegara Regency, and West Kutai Regency. Forest honey in East Kalimantan, in general, is still not well populated and maintained, due to several factors such as the maintenance of A. dorsata, the timely journey to harvest honey, and the difficulty of accessing the location of honeybee hives in a deep jungle. The advantages of forest honey from East Kalimantan are in terms of taste, color, and purity (Muslim, 2014; Da Silva et al, 2016; Wulandari, 2017)
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