Abstract:
Stingless bees produce honey (locally named as tazma mar) and propolis that are different
from the Apis mellifera honey and propolis in terms of composition. The aim of this study was,
therefore, to evaluate the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of honey and propolis from
stingless bee in vitro against selected human bacterial pathogens. The crude extracts of
stingless bee honey and its propolis were prepared using absolute ethanol, methanol and
distilled water. Total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and in vitro antioxidant activity
were evaluated. Antimicrobial activities of the resulting extracts were determined by
measuring zone of inhibitions on cultures of five selected pathogens using the disc diffusion
method. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of
the honey and its propolis extracts against the same pathogens were determined using the
broth dilution method. Ciprofloxacin and Dimethyl Sulfoxide were used as a positive and
negative control against the test pathogens, respectively. The results showed that the highest
total phenolic content of the methanoic extract of honey and the methanoic extract of its
propolis was 0.84±0.01mg of Gallic acid equivalent / g and 0.87±0.03 mg of Gallic acid
equivalent/ g, respectively. The highest total flavonoid contents recorded from the methanoic
extract of honey and propolis was 0.47±0.01mg of Quercetin equivalent/g and 0.82±0.04 mg
of Quercetin equivalent/ g, respectively. The in vitro antioxidant activities recorded from
methanoic extract of honey and propolis was 58.80±0.71 mg of BHT equivalent /g and 98.05±0.87mg of BHT equivalent/g, respectively. In this study, the ethanoic, methanoic and
aqueous extracts of honey and propolis at 100% concentration had the highest inhibitory
activities against Salmonella Typhi, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli compared to the
standard antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. Streptococcus pyogenes was the most affected by
Ciprofloxacin among the test pathogens. The Gram negative S.Typhi was found to be totally
resistant to Ciprofloxacin. The MIC of honey and propolis ranged from 0.625mg/ml to
10mg/ml and MBC from 2.5mg/ml to 40mg/ml. Further work is needed to know and
characterize the pure chemical compounds of phytochemicals of the honey and propolis of
stingless bee.
