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Melissopalynological Characteristics of the Most Common Types of Honey in Croatia

Melissopalynology or pollen analysis of honey plays a substantial role in controlling the quality of bee products and therefore is included in Croatian legislation. It includes sensory and physico-chemical analysis and is used in determination of botanical and geographical origin of honey. Botanical origin of honey refers to the pollen spectrum of plant species as sources of nectar, and geographic origin refers to the composition of the pollen grains of plants characteristic for particular area. Morphological features of pollen are specific for each plant species, so pollen can be considered a reliable parameter for the identification of plants. This harmonized method includes quantitative and qualitative analysis of pollen and other biological particles suspended in honey. During the two years period (2012- 2013) a total of 252 honey samples were analyzed. 27% of these samples did not correspond to the manufacturer's declaration according to the Regulations on the quality of unifloral honey (Official Gazette 122/2009). 166 samples were declared as unifloral, 80 as multifloral and 6 as honeydew. 99% (39/40) of samples of chestnut honey meet the criteria of unifloral honey with chestnut pollen frequency 85-99%. 80% of the samples of sage honey, 24% of acacia honey samples and 41% of linden honey samples did not meet the criteria of unifloral honey. Analysis of honey samples, determination and number of pollen grains in a sample of honey were conducted according to DIN 10760:2002-05. Pollen grains were determined and quantified by microscopy (light microscope at a magnification of 400x) after a proper slide preparation. For quantification of the pol-len types, at least 500 pollen grains were counted from each sample. The percentage frequency of the pollen taxa was calculated and is presented as the ratio of the pollen taxa and total pollen grains counted. Pollen types were identified by comparison with reference slides of pollen and selected paly-nological literature. Melissopalinological analysis requires advanced botanical knowledge, extensive experience of ana-lysts in identifying pollen grains, extensive comparative collection of reference pollen slides and in more demanding analysis usage of electron microscopy.

honey; pollen; melissopalinology; determination

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