Packaging Honey For Commercial Purposes - 4 Tips To Do It Correctly

1. How large beekeepers can make a profit
To be able to make a good profit large beekeepers cannot just sell their products within the local community but will have to spread their wings and get business from the super markets and grocery stores too. Only then can they cope with the financial expenditure and remain solvent financially. For this to happen the beekeepers have to pay heed to the packaging of the honey and other by products which should meet the standards set by SIRIM.

2. How do they decide on the packaging?
The container is what makes the package attractive and this is what the beekeeper has to bear in mind when thinking of the packing.

These packings can be in various types of containers like glass bottles, plastic containers and cans. The sizes of the containers can vary from a few hundred grams to several kilos.

The smaller containers come in attractive shapes and colors and can be reused for storing anything else by the buyer later.

Another aspect is to keep the bottles and containers firmly sealed so that they can be shipped to any destination without fear of leakage.

3. Labels are equally important as a visual effect
After the container has been decided on you will have to think about the label which is what makes the container colorful and attractive and gives the buyer details about the product.

Before designing the label or going to an artist who will help you with the design you should check with the government of your state about the laws that govern certain requirements.

This will decide about the information that you are supposed to put on every label. The name of the product, which in this case is "Honey", should be mentioned boldly on the label.

If you are using a distribution or packaging company their name and address as well as the name and address of your farm should also be on the label. Apart from all this the date of packaging the honey and the net weight should also be mentioned clearly. The size of the font on the label will be according to the size of the container and the label.

For those beekeepers who harvest honey of different flavors, the name of the flavor should also be mentioned on the label, as different people would prefer different flavors. Ig the honey is not filtered then you would have to mention that it is raw, natural or unfiltered on the label too.

4. SIRIM grades
The beekeepers who have the SIRIM certification will also have their honey graded and the grades will have to be mentioned on the labels too. These grades are based on the defects, quality of flavor, clarity and the amount of moisture in the honey.

honey value can be judged by five key factors

What is considered as good quality honey? Even after deciding that a certain floral variety of honey would be your most favourite type of honey, many of us are often still left with the question of “How do I choose the same floral variety of honey amongst all the countless brands of honey from all over the world, with a big range of prices in the market place?" When I am navigating through the maze of all the different honey in the shops, I look out for certain specific information to ensure that the honey I buy is value for money. Good quality honey, that is, honey of value can be judged by five key factors, namely:

1. Water content

Good quality honey essentially has low water content. Honey is likely to ferment and lose its freshness if the water content of honey is greater than 19%. The reason is that all unpasteurized honey contains wild yeasts. Due to the high sugar concentration, these yeasts will pose little risk in low moisture honey because osmosis will draw sufficient water from the yeast to force them into dormancy. In honey that has a higher proportion of water, the yeast may survive and cause fermentation to begin in storage. This results an increase of acidity, which then becomes an important quality criteria.

Honey is very hygroscopic, which means that it easily absorbs moisture from the air. Thus, in areas with a very high humidity it can be difficult to produce good quality honey of sufficiently low water content, which can be measured using a gadget called refractometer. Raw honey's moisture content can be as low as 14%, and is usually deemed as more valuable and hence is relatively more costly. Honey containing up to 20% water is not recommended for mead-making. One simple way of judging the relative quantity of water in honey involves taking two same-size, same-temperature, well-sealed jars of honey from different sources. Turn the two jars upside-down and watch the bubbles rise. Bubbles in the honey with more water content will rise faster.

2. HMF(Hydroxymethylfurfural)

HMF is a break-down product of fructose (one of the main sugars in honey) formed slowly during storage and very quickly when honey is heated. The amount of HMF present in honey is therefore used as a guide to storage guide to storage length and the amount of heating which has taken place. HMF's occurrence and accumulation in honey is variable depending on honey type. High levels of HMF may indicate excessive heating during the extraction process. Honey that is traded in a bulk form is usually required to be below 10 or 15mg/kg to enable further processing and then give some shelf life before a level of 40 mg/kg is reached. It is not uncommon for honey sold in hot climates to be well over 100 mg/kg in HMF. This is mostly due to the ambient temperatures (over 35°C) that honey is exposed to in the distribution channel. Some countries set an HMF limit for imported honey. You may also want to note the colour of the honey as it can sometimes be an indicator of quality because honey becomes darker during storage and heating.

3. Inverted sugars

High levels of HMF (greater than 100 mg/kg) can also be an indicator of adulteration with inverted sugars . Cane sugar or sucrose, is "inverted" by heating with a food acid, and this process creates HMF. Many food items sweetened with high fructose corn syrups, e.g. carbonated soft drinks, can have levels of HMF up to 1,000 mg/kg .

4. Impurities

For most consumers, good quality honey is expected to be visually free of defect -- clean and clear. Honey which has a very high pollen content appears cloudy, and the presence of many other contaminations such as particles of wax, bees, splinters of wood, and dust certainly does make it look unappetising and unappealing for anyone to buy and consume, and hence it appears as if it's of very low value. Unfortunately, no matter how much food value or health benefits some of these particles like pollen can offer, this kind of honey is hard to be associated with good quality honey and is immediately rejected by most consumers at the super-mart. And this explains why it's almost impossible to find unfiltered, raw honey on the shelf. Its cloudy appearance makes them commercially unattractive.

5. Colour

Honey is color graded into light, amber, and dark categories which do not really have any bearing on quality. Some of the most distinctively and strongly flavored honey varieties, such as basswood, are very light, while very mild and pleasant honeys such as tulip poplar can be quite dark. Honey color is measured on the Pfund Scale in millimeters. While it is not an indicator of honey quality and there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, the darker color the honey, the higher its mineral contents, the pH readings, and the aroma/flavor levels. Minerals such as potassium, chlorine, sulfur, iron, manganese, magnesium, and sodium have been found to be much higher in darker honeys.

Amazing Benefits of Honey!

Honey is far better than what most people perceive...

Discover the enormous benefits of honey; its pure, natural, and varied tastes and all the health benefits it provides. Its versatility and the goodness it can bring into your everyday practical life is WOW!

Not only does this delectable liquid stimulate your taste buds and whet your appetite, its unique taste and aroma has sprung off many time honor cooking ideas and recipes such as the cannot-be-missed honey baked ham and honey dips. But is honey really good for you? This caramel-like liquid seems to be full of calories. ...sure it tastes good and has a pleasant texture that coats the irritated throat, but is it no more than just a tasty placebo?

The fact is, researchers are turning up more and more new evidence of honey's medical benefits in all directions. The benefits of honey don't just stop at satisfying the palate; honey also offers incredible antiseptic, antioxidant and cleansing properties for our body and health, hot beauty and skin care tips for ladies, and amazing healing properties as a head-to-toe remedy, from eye conjunctivitis to athlete foot. Its powerful healing attributes have long been used thousands of years ago and known to promote healing for cuts, cure ailments and diseases, and correct health disorders for generations after generations. The renowned UMF Manuka honey, perhaps the tastiest natural medicine, is commonly cited in many discussions on health benefits of honey. This honey not only fights infection and aids tissue healing but also helps reduce inflammation and scarring. In addition, it is often used for treating digestive problems such as diarrhea, indigestion, stomach ulcers and gastroenteritis. The page, titled "In What Ways have You Experienced the Benefits of Honey?" is filled with eye-popping testimonies about the healing power of honey. I've lost count of the number of times I have accessed that page, but the stories posted there never cease to move and amaze me over and over again. With more and more health experts and theories, such as the Hibernation Diet, supporting its benefits, this oldest natural sweetener just keeps getting better.

One of the greatest pleasure and fascination in using honey is understanding the different floral varieties of honey, their appearance and quality, and experimenting with each of their unique taste and distinct flavor, and being able to know which floral variety of honey is most perfect for which kind of foods. The uses and benefits of honey in foods are as diverse as its floral varieties and places of origin. It is almost like acquiring wine knowledge through wine-tasting and getting information on the origin, quality and worth of the different wines. Very intriguing, satisfying, and even infectious! Besides all the pages on benefits of honey, perhaps one of the most well-received topics in this web resource is related to those exotic, tantalizing recipes which I have specially created and developed using honey. I think this is what makes the honey recipes here different from the massive number of honey recipes available out there.....exotic!

Honey Analyses In Malaysia

Honey Analyses

In Malaysia, honey is chiefly obtained from species of honeybees known as Apis dorsata and to a lesser extent Apis cerana. The amount of honey produced in Malaysia is very low as compared to countries like United States and U.S.S.R. As a result we still import large quantities of low grade honey from Australia, China and the United States. Honey production in Malaysia is largely in the area of Pontian and Batu Pahat in Johor, Bagan Datuk in Perak and Kuala Langat and Kuala Selangor in Selangor. This research is to fulfil the objective of obtaining sufficient data on local honey so that a recommendation of a local honey standard can be put forward.

From the results obtained, the minimum moisture content of samples analyzed was 19.4 while two honeys from an undetermined foraging area contained 24.8 and 29% moisture. This is very much above the required standard of 17% which means that all the samples cannot be kept from fermenting without pasteurization prior to bottling.

The HMF values of honey samples is below the standard required of not more 10 mg/kg of sample except for Belimbing-2 honey. The low HMF content can be attributed to the absence of heat treatment and being fresh honey. The diastase activity is also low compared to the average USA honey. This is probably inherent in local honey, since freshly harvested honey also had low diastase activity.

The main sugars of honey (fructose, glucose and sucrose) were within the range of the standard (5%) except for a Coconutcoffee honey sample which had a high sucrose content (7.16%). The pH of the honey samples was within the range of 3.53 to 4.05 giving an average pH of 3.9.

Work is continuing on the chemical characteristics of Malaysian honey to arrive at recommendations for a Malaysian standard. The standard will also help to increase the quality of honey in Malaysia.

Table 26:Development achieved by new colonies placed under banana and coconut areas (% increase between first and last recording after 1-3 months)

Table 26:Development achieved by new colonies placed under banana and coconut areas (% increase between first and last recording after 1-3 months)

		UNDER BANANA	UNDER COCONUT
Mean % INCREASE in:
	Comb area (x 800 cell)	121.1	25.7
	Honey cells	9,505.0	396.8
	Pollen cells	7,303.3	86.8
	Eggs	35.8	54.3
	Open brood cells	133.1	42.7
	Capped brood cells	13.1	170.2
	Colony strength (bee numbers)	127.2	55.9

Ainuddin, M.I. and Muhammad Muid 1986

Banana plantation as an off season and colony-strengthening apiary. (In Bahasa Malaysia] Undergraduate thesis. Faculty of Agriculture, UPM 53 pp.

Hashim, T. Muid, M. 1985

Kesan makanan tambahan terhadap perkembangan populasi lebah madu Apis cerana diluar musim pengaliran (Effects of food supplement on the population growth of honeybees, Apis cerana, during non nectar flow period). (undergrad thesis research). Jabatan Perlindungan Tumbuhan, Universiti Pertanian. 45 ms.

Sharif, A. R. Muid, M. 1985

Kajian kesan makanan tambahan terhadap, perkembangan koloni lebah madu, Apis cerana§ dibawah kawasan kelapa (Effects of food supplement on the colony development of Apis cerana under coconut holding). (undergrad thesis research). Jabatan Perlindungan Tumbuhan, Universiti Pertanian. 62 ms.

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Copyright 1997 © International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada
reference@idrc.ca | Updated: 10 November 1998

Banana as a off-season apiary for new colonies

Banana as a off-season apiary for new colonies

Malaysian farmers are encouraged lately to cultivate large acreages of bananas for the export market and monocultures of bananas need to be assessed as apiaries (maintenance and production apiaries). Bee colony development in a banana plantation was thus assessed in relation to food sources. As a comparison, colony development in coconut which represents a typical Malaysian farmer's apiary site, was also simultaneously assessed.

Food for honeybees come as copious amounts of nectar and some pollen, although the latter is usually scarce in cultivated varieties. Anthesis occurs during hours of darkness and nectar available to bees in the morning can be reduced by bats, birds and ants.

Hives were inspected at about weekly intervals to estimate the number of cells with eggs, uncapped brood, capped brood, honey and pollen and also the numbers of bees (visual rating) and the addition of new comb (Table 26).

Some important notes from the study are as follows:

1. Mean nectar per flower of 4 cultivars (20 samples):

	QUANTITY		SUGAR CONTENT
Emas	- 1.2 ml.	-	16.5%
Berangan	- 0.7 ml.	-	14.4%
Rastali	- 1.8 ml.	-	14.8%
Embun	- 2.4 ml.	-	18.3%

2. Mean number of banana-hearts in the 4 hectare plantation:

= 461 hearts.

3. Mean number of flowers/banana comb:

Emas	- 19
Berangan	- 15
Rastali	- 10
Embun	- 14

4. Mean number of pollen loads (bee foragers) per minute:

Colony	no	4 - 10
	no.	5 - 22
	no.	6 - 10

5. Mean number of bees visiting a flower per minute:

cultivar Chematu - 3.0 bees

cultivar Mentalon Baling- 2.3 bees

6. Range duration of visit by a bee of each flower - 15 to 90 seconds.

7. Pollen identification:

Pollen identification and photography was done to identify foraged flora. Asystasia, Psidium and Mimosa pollen was identified in the pollen loads. Dissection of the honeycrop produced exclusively banana pollen in the nectar.

The main conclusion drawn is that colony development under banana was as successful as under coconut for small starter colonies at five colonies for 416 banana hearts. They thus can be apiaries for building up nucleus hives and as off-season apiaries.

Supplementary diet for a coconut area: syrup and a soya-based diet

Supplementary diet for a coconut area: syrup and a soya-based diet

Approximately half of the bee hives in the country is under coconut or crops interplanted with coconut. A smaller degree of dearth severity occurs when the other crops (coffee, rambutans, durians) are out of season.

A diet recipe within the range recommended by CBRI, India was used as a pollen substitute with sugar syrup (1 : 1). The pollen substitute contained the following (parts by weight), and fed at 30 g per hive per week.
1 powder of boiled, skinned soya bean
7 ground cane sugar, wetted for starchy final mix
1 egg yolk powder
1.5 skinned milk powder

The results (Table 25) show that comb area significantly increased when given syrup alone or when given a combination of syrup and diet. From this aspect alone both were thus beneficial to be fed to colonies.

In the honey results the significantly higher honey content in the syrup treatments only showed that the syrup was quickly transferred into the cells.

The pollen data showed that given syrup alone bees will forage significantly high amounts of pollen.

The number of eggs laid were not significantly different between treatments. Thus the prevailing food situation in the hive was not influencing the rate of egg laying by the queen bee. Subsequent brood numbers were thus expected to be affected by food although brood records were not kept to check this possibility.

The male capped brood data did not show significant differences between treatments. However two of the four replicate hives in the syrup plus diet treatment immediately produced very large numbers of capped male brood. This behaviour showed that the colony may be preparing to produce swarm cells and to divide. This did not happen when syrup was given alone. On this basis it not recommended to provide both syrup and diet to colonies under coconut conditions.

Thus it can be concluded that a coconut area colony would benefit from syrup alone while a non-coconut area colony should be given both syrup and maize pollen as food supplements during the rainy season.

Table 25 The effect of artificial diet and sugar syrup on comb area, honey stores, pollen stores, egg number and male brood under coconut

Table 25 The effect of artificial diet and sugar syrup on comb area, honey stores, pollen stores, egg number and male brood under coconut

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Parameters recorded:	Comb area	Honey	Pollen	Eggs	Male
	sq. in.	cells	cells		brood
Treatments:
SYRUP + ARTIFICIAL DIET:	112a	3164a	344ab	1591a	373a
SYRUP:	129a	3238a	513a	3584a	75a
ARTIFICIAL DIET:	54b	199b	203ab	1210a	85a
CONTROL:	56b	1b	129b	1961a	46a

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Different letters in the same column denote significant differences between treatments (DMRT at P=0.10).

This food combination significantly exceeded the syrup alone treatment in three respects: honey content, pollen content and egg number in the hives. Honey content merely shows that the syrup was being transferred from the syrup container into the honeycomb and the high amount of pollen present showed that bees used the syrup energy to collect the maize pollen in the surrounding area compared to when given syrup without a pollen source.

However the significantly higher number of eggs laid by the queen when both syrup and pollen were present compared to when only syrup was given, showed that pollen may be acting as an extra incentive for egg-laying.

The results also show that the area chosen for the control treatment was indeed poor in food and it paints a true picture of beekeeping away from the coconut growing regions of the country especially during a rainy spell.

Table 24. The effect of maize pollen and sugar syrup on comb area, honey stores, pollen stores, egg number and male brood in a non-coconut area.

Table 24. The effect of maize pollen and sugar syrup on comb area, honey stores, pollen stores, egg number and male brood in a non-coconut area.

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Parameters recorded:	Comb area	Honey	Pollen	Eggs	Male
	sq. in.	cells	cells		brood
Treatments:
SYRUP + MAIZE POLLEN:	72a	2301a	436a	2960a	0a
SYRUP:	66ab	1242b	223b	1473b	0a
MAIZE POLLEN:	48b	647c	180b	1074bc	0a
CONTROL:	27c	195c	63b	407c	0a

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Different letters in the same column denote significant differences between treatments (DMRT at P=0.10).

Supplementary diet for a non-coconut area : syrup and maize pollen

Supplementary diet for a non-coconut area : syrup and maize pollen

A study was made on the effect of providing sugar syrup and maize pollen by growing the maize adjacent to the hives. The performance of similar strength six-frame hives showed superior development (measurement by egg-laying capacity) of syrup and maize pollen over other single supplements and the control (check) colonies.

The combination of syrup and pollen was the most beneficial treatment for colony development in a non-coconut area.

BEE NUTRITION

BEE NUTRITION

Dearth periods are defined as periods of unavailable nectar which cause a decline in colony development. A drastic cut in food supply as experienced in rainy weather or a weed control measure in our apiary is often followed by abscondment or in exposed comb for subsequent wax-moth invasion and abscondment. When food is available again, an early part of the nectar flow is used up for colony development leaving only the late part for excess honey.

Beekeeping areas in the country can roughly be divided into two categories: coconut and non-coconut. Coconut areas are better areas because coconut inflorescences are always available all the year round. In many instances inadequate management practices do not usually result in colony abscondment, a total loss for the beekeeper.

Beekeepers in non-coconut areas, on the other hand have to monitor the nectar sources constantly because immediate abscondments follow drastic reductions in nectar. Although nectar is excessive during the flowering of fruit trees plentiful in these areas, the periods are short (staggered for 4 - 6 weeks). These areas are also naturally low in feral colony numbers to replace lost colonies.

Supplementary diet seem to be the answer to relieving the colony from the stress of dearth periods.

Table 23 . Percentage fruit set of cashew after two weeks with and without bee hives. (Block 5 with a feral Apis dorsata colony.)

Table 23 . Percentage fruit set of cashew after two weeks with and without bee hives. (Block 5 with a feral Apis dorsata colony.)

						x + S.E.	x + S.E.
Block:	1	2	3	4	5	(including Block 5)	(excluding Block 5)
without hive:	24.4	7.9	7.2	5.3	19.2	12.8 +6.2	11.2 +2.1
with hive:	39.6	9.7	17.7	9.8	9.8	17.3 +6.2	19.2 +2.1

Table 22 . The total number of panicles, male and hermaphrodite flowers and their ratio, and fruit which set recorded in plots with and without hives.

Table 22 . The total number of panicles, male and hermaphrodite flowers and their ratio, and fruit which set recorded in plots with and without hives.

Treatment	panino cle	male flws.	herma. flws.	overall ratio male/herma.	fruit set
without hive:	308	2870	1921	1.5	207
with hive:	250	3747	1426	2.6	188

POLLINATION IN CASHEW

POLLINATION IN CASHEW

Cashew, Anacardium occidentale L. (Anacardiaceae), is a crop where honey bees could alleviate the problems of pollination and fruit set, although much depends on the local thrip, fly and ant activity, clones with high numbers of hermaphrodite flowers related to genetical or nutritional factors.

The cashew flower produces an abundance of nectar is presumed to be very attractive to bees. Furthermore the flowers open most abundantly between 11 am and 12.30 PM coinciding with the time of peak foraging activity of the bee.

Hives of Apis cerana were brought into cashew, Anacardium occidentale, at flowering time to assist pollination. Assessment of fruit set after panicle and flower counts (Table 22) showed a significant increase in (73%) the number of fruit which set (Table 23) in the presence of hives for the first two-week period. During the second two-week period both the presence of hives and a fungicide, benomyl, did not result in a significant increase in fruit set. Both pollen and honey stores were minimal.

The most important hive observation seemed to be the almost nonexistence of pollen stores in the combs. The rate of pollen foragers coming into the hives were also very slow (10 per minute). Microscopic examination of pollen from their pollen baskets and those from cashew anthers showed that they were different in shape, the cashew pollen being elongated (approximately 61.2 um by 30.6 um) while that from the legs being spherical (approximately 52.1 um diameter). It was concluded that bees did not settle for cashew pollen but probably foraged for other unidentified pollen.

Table 21: Pollen Frequencies in Honey from different locations in Malaysia, compared with Honey from Australia, China and U.S.A

Table 21: Pollen Frequencies in Honey from different locations in Malaysia, compared with Honey from Australia, China and U.S.A

Location	Major Crop Plants	Predominant Pollen	Secondary Pollen
		(45% and above)	(16-45%)
Malaysian Honey
1. Air Tawar	coconut	Cocos nucifera	-
	(close to mangrove)
2. Alai	coconut	Cocos nucifera	-
	carambola
3. Batu Pahat	coconut	Cocos nucifera	Theobroma cacao
	cacao
	sago
4. Balakong	carambola	Averrhoa carambola	-
	(close to coconut
	and oil palm)
5. Pontian	coconut	Cocos nucifera	-
	starfruit
6. Serdang Lama	carambola	Averrhoa carambola	-
	(close to coconut)
7. Tanjung Karang	coconut	Cocos nucifera	-
8. U.P.M.	starfruit	-	Cocos nucifera
	(close to coconut
	and guava)		Psidium guajava
			Averrhoa carambola
9. Australia	not known	Eucalyptus	Spesies B
		sp. (A)	(a)
		(a)
10. China	not known	Spesies B	Spesies A
		(c)	(a)
11. U.S.A	"orange blossom"	-	-
Major Crop Plants	Important Minor Pollen	Non-important Minor Pollen
	(3-15%)	(less than 3%)
coconut	Avicennia alba	Rhizophora mucronata
(close to mangrove)		Bruquiera gymnorhiza
		B eriopetala
		Pluchea indica
		Sonneratia alba
coconut	Averrhoa carambola	Sporobolus
carambola	Compositae spp.
coconut	Metroxylon sagus	Psidium guajava
cacao	Averrhoa carambola	Asystasia intrusa
sago	Cloeme rutidosperma	Musa cv.
carambola	Cocos nucifera	Asystasia intrusa
(close to coconut
and oil palm)	Acacia spp.	Cleome rutidosperma
	Leucaena leucacephala	Manihot spp.
	Compositae spp.	Amaranthus spp.
	Elaeis guineensis	Sporobolus sp.
coconut	Compositae spp.	Asystasia intrusa
starfruit	Averrhoa carambola	Sporobolus Sp.
		Cleome rutidosperma
carambola	Cocos nucifera	Cleome rutidosperma
(close to coconut)	Melaleuca leucadendron	Compositae spp.
	Acacia spp.	Psidium guajava
coconut	-	Theobroma cacao
		Asystasia intrusa
		Compositae spp.
starfruit	Veitchia merrillii	Asystasia intrusa
(close to coconut
and guava)	Sporobolus sp.
not known	Spesies C(a)	Spesies G(a)
	Spesies D(a)	Spesies H(a)
	Spesies E(a)
	Spesies F(a)
not known	Spesies C(c)	Spesies D(c)
	Spesies E(c)
"orange blossom"	-	-

Table 20 - Sugar Values of 10 Important Malaysian Bee Plants

Table 20 - Sugar Values of 10 Important Malaysian Bee Plants

Species		Sugar Value (mg per flower)
1.	Cocos nucifera (female)	257.14
2.	Cocos nucifera (male)	39.84
3.	Veitchia merillii (female)	135.24
4.	Veitchia merillil (male)	9.00
5.	Tecomaria capensis	104.98
6.	Vitex pubescens	45.08
7.	Asystasia intrusa	42.60
8.	Antigonon leptopus	22.30
9.	Callistemon speciosa	20.52
10.	Coffea robusta	4.03

Table 19. List of species in the Pollen Atlas

Table 19. List of species in the Pollen Atlas

Acanthaceae	Asystasia intrusa
Amaranthaceae	Ainaranthus blitum
	A. spinosus
Anacardiaceae	Anacardium occidentale
Bignoniaceae	Jacaranda filicifolia
Bombacaceae	Ceiba pentandra
	Durio zibenthinus
Capparidaceae	Cleome rutidosperma
Casuarinaceae	Casuarina equisetifolia
Commelinaceae	Setcreasea purpurea
Compositae	Eupatorium odoratum
	Pluchea indica
	Solidago virgaurea
	Wedelia biflora
Convolvulaceae	Ipomea pes caprae
Cyperaceace	Cyperus aromaticus
	C. kyllingia
Euphorbiaceae	Antidesma sp.
	Hevea brasiliensis
	Manihot glaziovii
Gramineae	Ischaemum muticum
	Sporobolus indicus
	Oryza sativa
	Zea mays
Leguminosea	Acacia auriculiformis
	A. binerva
	Calliandra surinamensis
	Delonix regia
	Leucaena leucocephala
	Mimosa invisa
	Mimosa pudica
	Peltophorum pterocarpum
	Sesbania grandiflora
Lauraceae	Cinnamomum verum
Lythraceae	Sonneratia alba
Loganiaceae	Fagraea fragrans
Musaceae	Musa cv.
Myrtaceae	Malaleuca leucadendron
	Psidium guajava
Oxalidaceae	Averrhoa bilimbi
	A. carambola
Palmae	Cocos nucifera
	Elaeis guineesis
	Metroxylon sagus
	Veitchia merrillii
Rubiaceae	Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea
	Coffea robusta
Rhizophoraccae	Bruguiera eriopetala
	B. gymnorhiza
	Ceriops candollaeana
Sapindaceae	Nephelium lappaceum
Sapotaceae	Mimusops clengi
Sterculiaceae	Theobroma cacao
Tiliaceae	Muntingia calabura
Urticaceae	Artocarpus heterophyllus
Verbenaceae	Avicennia alba
	Cleodendron inerme

Table 18. Alphabetical list of plants visited by honeybees (Apis cerana and/or A. dorsata) in Malaysia.

Column 1: botanical name and authority (* indicates forest tree in Fig. 2)

Column 2: N = major bee plant, n = minor bee plant, P = pollen plant

Column 3: flowering pattern cont = continuous throughout the year, freq = at frequent intervals (flowering period and interval between flowering, given in brackets below, greg = gregarious), seas = seasonal

Column 4: for species flowering seasonally, further data are given in Fig. 1 for which bold numbers are the key, and in Fig. 2 for which bold letters are the key (Capitals for sik and small for Langkawi)

Column 5: English name and/or, in brackets, Malay name

1	2	3	4	5
Acacia binervia (Wendl.)Macbr.	P	cont		silver acacia
Ananas comosus Merr.	N	cont		pineapple (nenas)
Antigonon leptopus Hook.&Arn.	N	cont		Honolulu creeper
Areca catechu L.	P	cont		betel nut palm (pinang)
*Artocarpus rigidus Blume		seas	A	(periang)
Asystasia intrusa Blume	N	cont		(Pokok Israel)
Averrhoa carambola L.	N	cont		starfruit (belimbing manis
*Avicennia spp				(pokok api-api)
Calliandra surinamensis Benth.	n,P	freq		powderpuff tree
		(3 weeks. interval 2 months)
Callistemon speciosus DC.	n	freq		bottlebrush plant
		(2 weeks, interval 3-5 weeks)
Cassia biflora L.	n	freq
		(3 weeks, interval 2 months)
*Castanopsis sp.		seas	a,B	(berangan)
Casuarina equisetifolia	P	freq		(ru)
Forst. & Forst.		(1 month, interval 1-2 months)
Cinnamomum verum Presl.		seas		1 cinnamon (pokok kayu manis)
Citrus spp	N	cont		lime, orange (limau, limau manis)
Cleome rutidosperma DC.	n	cont		(maman)
Cocos nucifera L.	N	cont		coconut (kelapa)
Coffea liberica hiern.	N	freq		coffee (kopi)
Coffea canephora cvs		(3-7 days, greg, interval &lt1 month)
*Dillenia sumatrana Miq.		seas	b	(simpoh)
*.Dipterocarpus baudii Korth.		seas	c	(keruing, bulu)
*Dipterocarpus sp.		seas	D	(keruing)
Durio zibethinus Murr.,	N	seas	2	durian (durian)
Elaeis guineensis Jacq.	P	cont		oil palm (kelapa sawit)
Eugenia jambos L.	n	seas	3	(jambu mawar)
Eugenia malaccensis L.	n	seas	4	(jambu bol)
*Eugenia spp		seas	d,e	(kelat, kelat kelabu)
Fagraea fragrans Roxb.	p	seas	5	(tembusu)
Gleditsia triacanthos L.				honey-locust
Hevea brasiliensis Muel. Arg.	n.	seas	6	rubber (pokok getah)
*Hopea ferrea Laness	n	seas	F	(malut)
Jacaranda filicifolia D. Don.	N	seas	7	(jambul merak)
Jatropha pandurifolia Andr.	n	cont
(J. integerrima Jacq.)
Justicia sp.	n	cont
*Koompassia malaccensis
Maingay ex Benth.		seas	C	(kempas)
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.)
de Wit.	p	cont		(petai belanda)
*Mangifera sp.		seas	E	(macang)
Manihot glaziovii Muel. Arg.	N	cont		tree tapioca (ubi gajah)
*Melaleuca leucadendron (L) L.				p cont(gelam)
*Millettia atropurpurpea (Wall.)
Benth.		seas	F	(tualang daing)
Mimosa pudica L.	p	cont		sensitive plant (malu-malu)
Mimosa sepiaria Benth.	p	cont
Moringa oleifera Lam.	N	seas	8	horseradish tree (meringgai)
Musa cvs	n	cont		banana (pisang)
*Myristicaceae		seas	G	penarahan)
Nephelium lappaceum L.	N	seas	9	rambutan (rambutan)
Nephelium mutabile Blume	N	seas	10	(pulasan)
Ocimum basilicum L.				sweet basil (selaseh)
*Parkia sp.		seas	H	(petai)
Peltophorum pterocarpum
(DC.) K. Heyne	n	seas	11	yellow flame (batai)
*Pentaspadon sp.		seas	g	(pelong licin)
*Pometia sp.		seas	h,I	(kasai)
*Pongamia pinnata (L) Pierre		seas	i	(mempari)
Psidium guajava L.	N	cont		guava (jambu batu)
Pterocarpus indicus Willd.	P	seas	12	(angsana)
Ptychosperma macarthurii
(Wendl.) Nicholson	n	cont
*Randia sp.		seas	j	(tinjau belukar)
*Rhizophora apiculata Blume		seas	k	(Bakau minyak)
Rhizophora mucronata (Lam.)
Merr.		seas	L	(bakau kurap)
Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.	n	seas	13	rain tree (pokok pukul lima
*Scaphium sp.		seas	J	(kembang semangkok)
*Schima wallichii Choisy		seas	m	(gegatol)
Seamum indicum L.				sesame (bijan)
*Shorea assamica Dyer		seas	K	(meranti pipit)
*Shorea curtisii Dyer ex King		seas	L	(seraya)
*Shorea henryana Pierre		seas	n	(meranti jerit)
*Shorea leprosula Miq.		seas	M	(meranti tembaga)
*Shorea siamensis Miq.		seas	o	(temak batu)
*Shorea sp.		seas	O	(meranti purni)
Solidago virgaurea L.	N	cont		golden rod
Telcoma stans (L) Kunth	n	freq		yellow bells
		(2 weeks, greg, interval 2 month)
Tecomaria capensis (Thunb.)
Spach	N	cont
*Tectona grandis L.		seas	p	teak (jati)
Veitchia merrillii (Becc.)
Moore	p	cont		veitchia palm
Vitex negundo L.	N	cont		(lagundi)
Vitex pubescens Vahl	N	cont		(leban)
Zea mays L.	p	cont		maize (jagung)
*		seas	q	(bangol)+
*		seas	r	(jelawi)+
*		seas	s	(kantong)+
*		seas	t	(kelompong)+
*		seas	u	(melopolk)+
		seas	v	(tanpong)+
+ Local Malay names used in Kedah which cannot be traced to species.

Investigation into the Possibility of Using Pollen in Honey to Identify the Origin of Honey in the Malaysian Context

Pollen types can be used to distinguish Malaysian honey from Chinese and Australian honey. Identification of pollen is therefore a useful tool for proving a adulteration of Malaysian honey by cheap foreign honey.

To overcome the problem of the adulteration of Malaysian honey with cheap foreign honey, the pollen in Malaysian and foreign honey was analysed for:

1. the pollen spectrum, which is the ratio of the frequency of each pollen type in the honey, (Table 21), and
2. the presence of marker pollen i.e. pollen types that are unique to a particular type of honey.

Pollen frequencies of eight honey samples from Malaysia gave consistent results and reflected the major crops or vegetation types where the hives were situated. Thus from the pollen spectrum (Table 21 ) it is possible to distinguish honey from areas where coconut or starfruit is the predominant crop.

Besides the distinctive pollen frequencies for a particular type of honey, Malaysian honey can be distinguished from foreign honeys by the presence of two marker pollen types, namely coconut pollen and the pollen of Leucaena leucocephala.

The sample of Chinese honey (Table 21) did not have a single pollen type in common with Malaysian honey. (These pollen types are at present unidentified due to the lack of reference material on Chinese pollen).

The Australian honey (Table 21 ) contained acacia pollen (which is also sometimes found in Malaysian honey) and eucalyptus pollen (which morphologically is very similar to guava and jambu, Eugenia, pollen). However, the ratio of eucalyptus pollen to other pollen types is much higher, and differences in the types of secondary and minor pollen makes possible the identification of Australian honey.

The sample of orange blossom honey from U.S.A. did not contain any pollen at all. However, it is unlikely to be used to adulterate Malaysian honey as it is more expensive than either Australian or Chinese honey.

This study shows that analysis of the pollen types and their frequencies in honey provides a reliable guide to the origin of the honey.

Azhar, Phoon C.G., Berahim Embong. 1986.

Pollination of the coconut (Cocos nucifera) in Malaysia. (undergrad. thesis research), Biology Department, Universiti Pertanian, Serdang. 15 pp.

Khairuddin, T.K., Kiew, R. 1985.

Nilai gula dan struktur nekatar bagi beberapa tumbuhan utama lebah Malaysia. (Quality of sugar and nectary structure of several bee plants) (undergrad. thesis research). Jabatan Biologi, Universiti Pertanian, Serdang. 70 ms.

Mai Shihah Abdullah 1986

Atlas debunga Tumbuhan Lebah Malaysia dan Spektrum Debunga Madu. (Pollen atlas of Malaysian bee plants and pollen spectrum of honeys.) Undergraduate thesis Dept. of Biology, Faculty of Science and Environment, UPM. 100pp.

Mardan, M., Kiew, R. 1985.

Flowering periods of plants visited by honeybees in two areas of Malaysia. Proc. 3 Int. Conf. Apic. Trop. Climates, Nairobi, 209-216.

Muid, M., Mardan, M. 1985.

The effects of introducing honeybee (A. cerana) colonies on the fruit sets and formation of cashew. Proc. 3 Int. Conf. Apic. Trop. Climates, Nairobi, 116-122.