<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Nineteen samples of honey were collected from different localities of the Borana Zone and examined to identify the botanical origin of honey through honey pollen analysis. From nineteen honey samples, sixteen were identified as monofloral honeys. Twentyeight plant species were identified as honey source plants and the identified plant species belonged to fourteen plant families. Out of twenty-eight bee plant species, 17.9% of them were found in the Fabaceae family followed by Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, each of them accounting for 14.3% of all honey plants species found in the samples. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H) showed that high diversity of plant species was found in eleven honey samples with a range of 1.07 (Bule Hora site 1) to 1.81 (Yabello site 2) on the basis of honey pollen analysis. Eight honey samples had lower diversity index values, ranging from 0 (Arero site 2 and Bule Hora site 3) to 0.84 (Gelana site1), which suggests the honey was obtained from a few dominant plant species. Accordingly, <italic>Guizotia scabra, Haplocoelum foliolosum, Plectranthus assurgens, Terminalia brownii, Sesamum indicum, Satureja paradoxa, Croton macrostachyus</italic> and <italic>Acacia brevispica</italic> were the major monofloral honeys produced from the area. This indicates that there is a huge potential for the production of monofloral honey. Since monofloral honey has a good market value and is preferred by consumers, the involvement of investors is recommended.</p></abstract>

Nineteen samples of honey were collected from different localities of the Borana Zone and examined to identify the botanical origin of honey through honey pollen analysis. From nineteen honey samples, sixteen were identified as monofloral honeys. Twentyeight plant species were identified as honey source plants and the identified plant species belonged to fourteen plant families. Out of twenty-eight bee plant species, 17.9% of them were found in the Fabaceae family followed by Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, each of them accounting for 14.3% of all honey plants species found in the samples. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H) showed that high diversity of plant species was found in eleven honey samples with a range of 1.07 (Bule Hora site 1) to 1.81 (Yabello site 2) on the basis of honey pollen analysis. Eight honey samples had lower diversity index values, ranging from 0 (Arero site 2 and Bule Hora site 3) to 0.84 (Gelana site1), which suggests the honey was obtained from a few dominant plant species. Accordingly, Guizotia scabra, Haplocoelum foliolosum, Plectranthus assurgens, Terminalia brownii, Sesamum indicum, Satureja paradoxa, Croton macrostachyus and Acacia brevispica were the major monofloral honeys produced from the area. This indicates that there is a huge potential for the production of monofloral honey. Since monofloral honey has a good market value and is preferred by consumers, the involvement of investors is recommended.

Pollen Analysis of Honey from Borana Zone of Southern Ethiopia

Journal of Apicultural Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Pollen Analysis of Honey from Borana Zone of Southern Ethiopia"}

Nineteen samples of honey were collected from different localities of the Borana Zone and examined to identify the botanical origin of honey through honey...

Pollen Analysis of Honey from Borana Zone of Southern Ethiopia

Published Online: Dec 26, 2019

Page range: 233 - 242

Received: Aug 22, 2018

Accepted: Aug 28, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2019-0022

Keywords
Ethiopia, melissopalynology, monofloral honey, pollen

© 2019 Tura Bareke et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pollen Analysis of Honey from Borana Zone of Southern Ethiopia

Published Online: Dec 26, 2019

Page range: 233 - 242

Received: Aug 22, 2018

Accepted: Aug 28, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2019-0022

KeywordsEthiopia, melissopalynology, monofloral honey, pollen

© 2019 Tura Bareke et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Ethiopia, melissopalynology, monofloral honey, pollen