Physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of natural honeys produced in Al-Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

الملخص EN

The characterization of 23 natural honeys produced in Al-Qassim region, Saudi Arabia, was carried out on the basis of either their physicochemical properties: moisture, total sugars, pH, total acidity, ash and protein contents, colour and pollen grains or their antimicrobial activity against osmophilic microorganisms.

The results showed that the moisture ranged from 13.0-16.8 ; total sugars, 56.3-85.5 ; pH, 3.51-5.27; total acidity, 9.12-93.02 ; ash, 0.001-10.11 ; and colour, light amber-dark amber.

Also, these honeys are extremely rich in protein content and pollen grains.

The results showed antimicrob-ial activities of some analyzed samples against Penicillium sp., Asper-gillus nigr and Saccharomyces sp.

as osmophilic microorganisms.