Characterization and Botanical Differentiation of Monofloral and Multifloral Honeys Produced in Cyprus, Greece, and Egypt Using Physicochemical Parameter Analysis and Mineral Content in Conjunction with Supervised Statistical Techniques

Table 3

Physicochemical parameters and minerals used for the botanical discrimination of Cypriot, Greek, and Egyptian honeys.

Discrimination parameters	Discriminant functions				Strong physicochemical markers of the provenience of the studied honey types
	1	2
pH	0.585	0.297	34.979	<0.001
EC	0.426	0.284	19.732	<0.001
Moisture	−0.006	0.650	14.725	<0.001
FA	0.458	−0.226	21.340	<0.001
TDS	0.535	0.259	29.097	<0.001
Salinity	0.347	−0.006	11.272	<0.001
	−0.268	−0.103	7.059	0.003
	0.318	0.121	9.942	<0.001
P	0.112	0.014	7.212	0.003
Fe	−0.092	−0.322	12.282	<0.001
Ca	−0.086	0.012	4.289	0.023
Mg	0.147	−0.163	14.381	<0.001
Mn	0.098	−0.065	5.913	0.007
Si	0.082	−0.113	4.788	0.015
B	0.078	0.121	4.529	0.019

Pooled within-group correlations between discriminating variables and standardized canonical discriminant functions are given. Variables are ordered by the absolute size of correlation within function; largest absolute correlation between each variable and any discriminant function (); FA: free acidity; TDS: total dissolved solids; EC: electrical conductivity.