Resources of Melliferous and Polleniferous Plants of Central Asia and Kazakhstan Based on Melissopalynological Analysis

Abstract—A palynological study of 82 samples of honey from Middle Asia and Kazakhstan was carried out in order to determine the resources of the key melliferous and polleniferous plants. The obtained results made it possible to establish 8 productive beekeeping zones in the studied territory. The most common pollen combinations are identified for each zone. The selected zones can be combined into two large groups: northern and southern, with a transitional area (zone 3, the Dzungarian Alatau mountain ridge) between them, where honey with mixed palynological characteristics is obtained. In the northern part, in zones 1 and 2 (northern and eastern Kazakhstan) Origanum vulgare L., Rubus idaeus L., Salix L. are important wild native melliferous plants, Helianthus annuus L., Sinapis alba L. are agricultural melliferous plants, and Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim. is important polleniferous plant. Further south, in zones 4–8 (south and southeast Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), the principal wild native melliferous plants are Salvia L., Thymus L., Alhagi Tourn. ex Adans., Halimodendron halodendron (Pall.) C.K. Schneid., Tamarix L., Psoralea drupacea Bunge, agricultural melliferous plants – Gossypium hirsutum L. and Onobrychis Mill., weeds – Echium vulgare L., Onopordum acanthium L., Sophora L., and polleniferous plants – Hypericum L., Artemisia L., Plantago L. and Chenopodiaceae.