Croat. J. Food Sci. Technol. (2022) 14 (2) 04 1 of 8 Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology journal homepage: www.ptfos.unios.hr/cjfst/ Original scientific paper DOI: 10.17508/CJFST.2022.14.2.04 Physicochemical characteristics of honey produced in Arba Minch Zuria district of Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia Alemayehu Anza 1,2* , Nebiyu Yemane 2 and Amssalu Bezabeh 4 1 Arba Minch Agricultural Research Center, Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Ethiopia 2 Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia 3 Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Oromia, Ethiopia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received: July 14, 2021 Accepted: November 29, 2021 Honey is a food rich in nutrients essential for human life and its composition as well as quality varies greatly. The study was conducted in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia to determine the physicochemical properties of honey. A total of 20 honey samples were collected from farm gates and local markets. Honey quality parameters like moisture content, sugars (fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose), pH, free acidity, HMF and ash (mineral) contents were tested according to the procedures described by International Honey Commission (IHC) (2009). The overall mean values of moisture, pH, free acidity, hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde (HMF), total ash, electrical conductivity, fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose of the analyzed honey samples were 19.27±1.99%, 3.80±0.24, 34.04±14.21meq/kg, 13.09±4.47mg/kg, 0.23±0.09%, 0.55±0.16mS/cm, 39.95±4.09%, 33.75±5.71%, 0.99±0.38% and 2.08±1.73%, respectively. Moisture content was significantly (p<0.05) affected by both agroecology and hive type for honey samples from farm gates. Honey samples from local markets had significantly (p<0.001) higher moisture, free acidity and sucrose content than honey samples obtained from households in three agroecologies. The study indicated that all honey samples obtained from farm gates and a majority of samples collected from local markets in the study area are of good quality and meet the national and international standard limits. However, some honey samples collected from local markets had a higher level of sucrose than recommended limit suggesting adulteration of honey. Keywords: Agroecology Honey Hive type Physicochemical Quality Introduction  Beekeeping in Ethiopia is a major component of livestock production. Ethiopia has the largest honeybee colony population in Africa and has a big honey production potential in different agroecologies (Takele, 2014). According to the report of Apimondia (2018), 64,000 metric tons of honey are produced per annum in Ethiopia, which accounts for more than 25% of production in the continent andranks Ethiopia the first among honey producing countries in Africa and ninth in the world. * Corresponding author E-mail: alemayehunz@gmail.com However, the majority of the produced honey is crude and poorly managed (Awraris et al., 2014). Honey characterization is based on the determination of its physical, chemical or biological properties (Gomes et al., 2010). The physicochemical parameters such as moisture content (MC), reducing sugars, sucrose, pH, free acidity (FA), hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde (HMF), electrical conductivity (EC) and ash (mineral) content are the criteria for determining the quality of honey (Belay et al., 2013; Gomes et al., 2010; Saxena et al., 2010).