Preliminary results of melissopalynological and Physico-chemical analyses of honey in West Azerbaijan province, NW iran.

The present study was undertaken to determine the physicochemical and palynological characteristics of 18 honeysamples from three different areas in West Azerbaijan, Iran. Sample preparation for palynological and physicochemicalanalyses was carried out at the University of Gottingen and QSI (Bremen), Germany, respectively. Honeysamples were compared in terms of electrical conductivity, proline, HMF, diastase activity and major sugarcomposition. No significant differences in physico-chemical parameters were seen in the samples. Pollen percentageabundances of the majority of the samples were comparable with the botanical origin of their pollen content. Basedon a descriptive statistics, more than half of the required pollen for honey production were collected by bees merelyfrom two genera, i.e. Astragalus and Plantago, in all three sampling areas. The results of cluster analysis of thepollen spectra of the honey samples showed that all but one honey sample from Marmishou could be separatedbased on their pollen content.

Keywords:

Honey , Melissopalynology , Physico-chemical parameters , Pollen , , Urmia