Classical classification and discrimination analysis of physicochemical characters of Sidr honey produced in some Arab countries

الملخص EN

Sidr honey is one of the best and most expensive monoflora honeys world wide.

The aim of this work is to use discriminate analysis for classifying of blossom Sidr honey from Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Yemen countries.

All data were statistically tested using analysis of variance.

Discriminate analysis was used to identify the most important parameters in the classification.

The development of partial least square discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) model on validation gave 100% correct classification of the samples.

The results showed that, Sidr honey from Egypt and Algeria could not be assigned by 100% into their actual groups even when all parameters were used simultaneously in the analysis as well as Libya and Yemen.

Different parameters were discussed in the light, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, free acidity, lactone, fructose, glucose, sucrose and maltose contents accounted for the most discrimination parameters between the different Sidr honey in Arab countries and the effectiveness of the chosen parameters to characterization and discrimination.

All tested honey samples were within the level allowable by the international standards for honey quality.

The application of the discriminate technique (PLS-DA) presented the best for discriminating Sidr honey in Arab countries.