Abstract
The activity of honey enzymes are affected by floral and geographical origins, climate conditions, honeybee species, health and nutrition. This article investigated the effect of floral and geographical origins on the activity of glucose oxidase (GOx) and catalase (CAT) enzymes in honey samples from the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the moisture, total sugars, pH and conductivity were measured as quality parameters. The floral origin of the honey samples was determined microscopically while the quality parameters were measured according to the methods of international honey commission. The activity of the honey enzyme was determined following the instructions of the Megazyme International kits. The obtained results were statistically analyzed by the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, v.20). The GOx activity of the Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honey samples of the Asir region were (5.19 +/- 2.33 U/g), (4.01 +/- 1.17 U/g) and (5.69 +/- 1.67 U/g), respectively. The Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honey samples from the Jazan region had GOx activities of (6.85 +/- 0.47 U/g), (10.48 +/- 9.22 U/g) and (5.31 +/- 2.7 U/g), respectively. The geographical origin significantly affected the GOx activity of Ziziphus honey (p-value = 0.005) and the GOx activity of the Ziziphus honey was significantly more than that of the polyfloral honey of the Jazan region (p-value = 0.009). With regard to the CAT activity in Asir region honey samples, the mean values of the Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honeys were (2.89 +/- 1.08 U/g), (3.58 +/- 1.59 U/g) and (2.84 +/- 1.24 U/g), respectively. The mean values of the CAT activity in the Jazan honey samples were Acacia (4.35 +/- 1.01 U/g), Ziziphus (3.94 +/- 0.04 U/g) and polyfloral (3.43 +/- 0.67 U/g). The geographical origin significantly affected the CAT activity in Acacia honey (p-value = 0.014). The geographical and floral origins had significant effects on the activity of the honey GOx and CAT enzymes.