ESTIMATION OF MINERAL CONTENTS OF APIS CERANA INDICA, APIS DORSATA AND APIS MELLIFERA HONEY FROM PLAINS, HILLS AND WESTERN GHATS OF TAMIL NADU AND JAMMU & KASHMIR

Honey samples of Apis mellifera, Apis dorsata and Apis cerana were collected from Hills, Plains and Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir. In order to achieve nutritive and medicinal value of honey regular monitoring of food quality is necessary. In current study mineral analysis (Quantitative analysis) of honey samples were performed by Atomic absorption spectrophotometer and flame photometer. The mineral elements with high frequency were Ca 53.01±4.06, Mg 4.14±0.03, Na 25.17±0.04 in Apis cerana from Plains of Jammu & Kashmir, while as K content 71.34±3.95 were high in Apis dorsata from Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu. All the mineral contents were within range and varied highly significantly at the level(P?.000). From present study, it is observed that the Indian honey is good in quality although they are not completely deprived of heavy metals.