Physicochemical characteristics of west Sumatera's forest honey

Abstract

Asian giant honeybees (Apis dorsata) have an important economic role for the community around the forest and forest's health. However, degradation and conversion of forest are the main threats for its existence and distribution. Thus, the conservation strategy needs to be developed to maintain their honey production. Moreover, natural landscapes in West Sumatera province makes some unique characteristics of the honey since in each bioregion has its vegetations. This study aimed to characterize the physicochemical characteristics of West Sumatra's forest honey. Observation and survey were used as the research method. SNI 3545:2013 was used as a reference for making the comparison between bioregions. The result showed that physicochemical characteristics of West Sumatra's forest honey taken from many bioregions have already met the standard required by SNI 3545: 2013. Furthermore, the physicochemical characteristics are not significantly different between its bioregions.