Alhagi as a honey plant

 

A common plant in dry steppes, semi-deserts and deserts is Alhagi. This simple shrub is well adapted to life in hot climates. In many regions, Alhagi is the basis of the food supply for camels, goats, sheep and other animals, but few people know that Alhagi is a honey plant and, moreover, a very good honey plant, which can provide the main source of apiaries in semi-deserts and deserts. Like any honey plant, Alhagi has its own characteristics. Under what conditions does Alhagi secrete nectar, when does Alhagi secrete nectar, what are the features of Alhagi as a honey plant, what kind of Alhagi honey is collected by bees. In this article we will consider all these questions and many others that will be of interest to the beekeeper. Read to the end it will be interesting.

Content

• Description of the honey plant Alhagi
• Alhagi where it grows
• Description of Alhagi plant species in Kazakhstan and Central Asia
• What does Alhagi look like?
• Alhagi properties and applications
• Alhagi honey plant or yantak like honey plant
• Features of Alhagi honey plant
• In what weather does Alhagi produce nectar?
• What is the honey productivity of Alhagi?
• How much honey can be collected from a Alhagi?
• When is the best time for Alhagi to secrete nectar?
• Alhagi when it secretes nectar from extrafloral nectaries
• Alhagi pollen carrier
• Alhagi honey

 

 

Description of the Alhagi honey plant

 

Honey plant Alhagi of the family Pabaceae Lindi. (Papilionacede Giseke, Leguminosae Juse.) is a leguminous plant from the genus Alhagi.

What is the name of Alhagi? The Alhagi honey plant has many names, each nation calls it differently. Uzbeks and Tajiks call Alhagi yontok, Kazakhs and Karakalpaks call it zhantak. Turkmen and Kyrgyz - Yantak. The names jantak are also found.

The Alhagi plant is a typical plant of dry steppes, semi-deserts and deserts of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. However, it should be noted that 5 species of Alhagi, out of 10 existing in the world, are common in Central Asia.

Here are the common types of Alhagi growing in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

Alhagi kirgihisorum–Yantak Kyrgyz

Alhagi persarum Boiss et Buhse – Yantak Persian

Alhagi pseudalhagi (M.D.) Desv. - Yantak false (common)

Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. - Yantak loose-leaved (sparsely leafed)

Alhagi canescens Shap. - Yantak is grayish.

 

Alhagi where it grows

 

The Alhagi honey plant often grows in the Lower Don and Lower Volga, in all regions of the Caucasus, except Western Transcaucasia, it can be found in Upper Tobol in Western Siberia, and Alhagi can also be found in Asia Minor.

Alhagi grows in a wide range of soils. Alhagi grows on clayey, sandy loam, gray-brown, sandy gray soils, found on slightly saline soils, Alhagi grows on the outskirts of hilly soils, in river valleys, fixed sands, on fallow lands, and is often found on abandoned irrigation fields. Alhagi grows among hills, on plains, in foothills, and is found both on rainfed crops and on the edges of irrigated meadows. It is believed that Alhagi grows in soils with a high pH (7.55).

The Alhagi honey plant prefers to grow on various soils that are light in texture, where the groundwater level is not very deep - from 3 to 5 m.

Alhagi forms dense thickets in river valleys and on foothill plains. The Alhagi melliferous plant is also capable of forming a large number of phytocenoses, for example, amber-licorice or amber-broomaceae, amber-caraganaceae, amber-combing and others.

 

Description of Alhagi plant species in Kazakhstan and Central Asia

 

Persian Alhagi is a perennial subshrub with rather coarse stems and spines. Most often, Alhagi is found in dry places in the valley and delta of the Amu Darya, on clay soils, in gravelly habitats, on sandy soils, on the Ustyurt plateau it is found along caravan roads, in the vicinity of wells.

Yantek false or Yantek ordinary or Alhagi, a thorny perennial herbaceous plant, subshrub, which can reach a height of up to 130 cm, but most often grows in height in the range from 50 to 110 cm. The Alhagi honey plant is found in the valley and delta of the Amu Darya, prefers to grow in tugai, along the bottoms of gorges, in lowlands, grows along ditches, canals, on fallow lands, along roads, on sand and salt marshes. Yantak grows on clayey gray-brown and slightly saline sandy soils. Yantaka spines, except for the lowest ones, are delicate, herbaceous, Yantaka flowers are bright, purple. Flowering duration is 20 days.

Yantak loose-leaved or yantak sparsely-leaved, most often this type of Alhagi grows on gravelly-sandy slopes, in sandy areas , in irrigated areas, found in Kyzylkum. Yantak loose-leaved is a perennial subshrub that reaches a height of 50-100 cm.

Yantak greyish or Alhagi is a perennial subshrub often found growing in deserts on saline sandy soils. The entire Alhagi plant is grayish with pubescence. Alhagi flowers are bright red, developing in 3-7 pieces on spines. In nomadic beekeeping, less Yantak is used than false Yantak. Beekeepers from Bukhara, Khorezm, and Kashkadarya roam during the flowering of grayish yantak.

Yantak Kyrgyz (Alhagi, zhantak) is a prickly perennial. Stems and branches are erect, bare, smooth, branched, 50-70 cm in height. The spines are bare, with a woody point at the end. The flowers of the Kyrgyz yantaka are developed on 3-7 spines, their corollas are pinkish-purple. Yantak Kyrgyz is widespread on the plains of Central Asia on abandoned irrigated lands; it grows along the banks of dry canals and on the slopes of the foothills. On the plains, Yantak blooms from June 15, in the foothills it begins to bloom 5-7 days later. The duration of flowering of Yantaka Kyrgyz in the foothills is 15 days. Yantaka flowers open at 8-9 o'clock, nectar is released from yantaka flowers from 10 to 21 o'clock.

Yantak Persian (yantots) is a thorny perennial up to 75 cm in height with spreading branches that extend in an arched manner from the main stem. Yantaka spines are rough, not herbaceous, and bear 4-5 flowers. The corollas of the flowers are reddish-purple. Widely distributed on the southern slopes of the foothills of Central Asia, and also grows in floodplains and on the banks of dry canals. Yantak blooms in the second half of June for two weeks. Yantak is actively visited by honey bees.

What does Alhagi look like?

 

What does Alhagi look like? As a rule, the Alhagi honey plant is a subshrub or shrub that reaches a height of 60 cm or more. As a rule, the height of Alhagi depends on soil moisture. The closer the groundwater lies, the higher the Alhagi bush. In deserts, Alhagi honey bushes may well be only 30 cm in height.

Alhagi roots penetrate very deeply into the soil, some evidence indicates that Alhagi roots can go down to a depth of 20 m.

Alhagi bush with long straight spines. The hardness of the spines depends on the dryness of the area. if the area is dry, then the spines are harder and tougher; if the area is more humid, the spines are also more tender.

The leaves of Alhagi are alternate, simple, whole, oblong, obtuse, 1-2 cm long. The stipules are small, awl-shaped.

Alhagi flowers come in a wide range of shades. Alhagi flowers are yellow, pink, reddish, which produce a large amount of nectar.

Alhagi flowers are collected in buds of three to eight pieces, of a typical moth type: the calyx of the flower is bell-shaped, it has five small, almost equal teeth; the sail of the flower is back ovoid, bent back, slightly notched at the top; the wings of the flower are oblong, they are shorter than the boat or the same length as it; the boat is blunt and shorter than the sail. The stamens of the flower are bifraternal (nine fused and one free).

The Alhagi fruits begin to ripen in July. Alhagi pods are single-leaf, linear in shape, almost woody, valval in shape, indehiscent, they are irregularly constricted or kidney-shaped, slightly curved or straight, bare. Each bean contains four to five kidney-shaped or almost square seeds.

 

Alhagi properties and uses

 

Alhagi is of great importance for the local population as a fodder, medicinal, melliferous, fuel, and essential oil plant. Some types of Alhagi are used as a food, tanning, fat-oil, and dyeing plant.

Therefore, the importance of the Alhagi honey plant in the desert is difficult to overestimate.

It is worth considering in more detail the properties of Alhagi as a honey plant.

 

Alhagi honey plant or yantak like honey plant

 

Yantak as a honey plant, the Alhagi honey plant in the desert is the main honey plant. It’s not for nothing that some beekeepers travel to the desert to collect honey from Alhagi. Depending on the area and species, Alhagi blooms from June to September.

In Uzbekistan, in the adyrs, dense thickets of false yantak grow along river valleys, replacing ak-kuray in flowering. Yantak Kyrgyz most often grows in high foothills and low mountains. Mass flowering of these Yantaka species begins in mid-June. Bees collect only nectar from yantaka flowers. In the mountains of the Western Tien Shan, honey harvest lasts from mid-June for a month and is collected by bees from five species of plants: jujube, small-flowered oregano, creeping bitterweed, common cornflower, and Persian yantak. The color, taste and aroma of yantaka honey and herbs comes from the nectar of oregano and ziziphora flowers.

In the Syrdarya tugai, false yantak blooms from the middle of the nyun.

In the first ten days of June, beekeepers migrate for honey collection from Yantak to saline lands of the plain.

Some of the apiaries at the end of June can migrate to the honey collection from yantak, placing the apiary along canals and collectors where there are thickets of yantak, which were mowed for hay in mid-June. Flowers have again developed on the regrown branches, which bloom in July. Beekeepers have noticed that the Yantaka species that grow on the dry slopes of the foothills are only honey plants. Yantaka plants that grow in more humid conditions are honey plants and pollen plants. After such migration to Yantak, it is possible to pump out 10-15 kg of Yantak honey per bee colony.

In early June, in apiaries, migration to the salt marshes with species of annual saltworts in combination with large thickets of yantak located nearby is possible. Their flowering begins in mid-June and lasts 10 days. 

An interesting question is how many days does the Alhagi bloom and how many days does the Alhagi secrete nectar and the duration of honey collection from the Alhagi. All these periods will not coincide. For example, in Turkmenistan, the Persian Alhagi blooms from the second half of June for 15-20 days, during this time bees actively visit the Alhagi flowers to collect honey, and during this time beekeepers manage to pump out honey from the Alhagi two or even three times.

The duration of flowering for each species is 20 days, therefore in Central Asia and Kazakhstan, in more favorable weather conditions, the flowering of Alhagi as a honey plant continues throughout June and half of July. On the plains, Alhagi takes 5-7 days to bloom than in the foothills.

 

Features of Alhagi honey plant

 

Despite the fact that Alhagi is a forage plant, hay is harvested after the Alhagi has flowered, so bees make full use of the honey collected from Alhagi. However, if camels simply graze through its thickets, the honey productivity of Alhagi can be greatly reduced, since camels eat the upper, vegetative part of the plant, along with the flowers and buds located on them.

Practicing beekeepers also note that the Alhagi honey plant begins to bloom much more amicably in virgin lands or in places protected from the wind. In such areas, the Alhagi honey plant produces much more nectar than Alhagi growing on cultivated land.

Alhagi is important as a honey plant because it is capable of releasing nectar in the summer, when the main herbaceous vegetation of semi-deserts and dry steppes burns out. 

In what weather does Alhagi produce nectar?

However, the weather can present a surprise for beekeepers and reduce the honey yield from the Alhagi. As a rule, in the conditions of Turkmenistan, the honey flow from Alhagi is negatively affected by the hot south-east wind, dry spring, excessively cool rainy weather during the flowering period of Alhagi, although rainy weather is rare. As practice shows, most often on Alhagi the honey harvest lasts 4-5 days, until it is interrupted by dry winds. If the year is more or less humid and there are no dry winds, then the honey collection from Alhagi can last 10-15 days.

What is the most generous temperature for Alhagi nectar release? The optimal temperature for the release of Alhagi nectar is 26 - 30 C and a relative humidity of 40 - 65%.

False yantaka flowers bloom at 7-8 o'clock in the morning at an air temperature of 20-22°. Each yantaka flower blooms only on the day of blooming; after 21 pm it withers. Honey bees visit yantaka flowers from 10-13 hours to 20-21 hours without a break, while the bees collect only nectar. 

 

What is the honey productivity of Alhagi?

 

Alhagi honey productivity. Alhagi flowers produce a lot of nectar; one Alhagi flower produces 2 mg of sugar during the day.

Yantaka nectar contains 36-48% sugar. The readings of the control hive increase by 2-3.6 kg per bee colony.

The honey productivity of Alhagi is noted at the level of 150 kg of honey per 1 hectare of continuous growth. So, to the question of how many kilograms of honey a Alhagi produces per hectare, you can answer 150 kg of honey. But it should be remembered that in the desert the thickets can be sparse and, accordingly, the real honey productivity of Alhagi (false yantak, zhantak) in the deserts of Uzbekistan is reduced to 12 - 25 kg of honey per 1 hectare. The real honey productivity of Alhagi (gray-haired yantak, Alhagi) in the deserts of Uzbekistan is reduced to 10 - 15 kg of honey per 1 hectare.

 

How much honey can be collected from a Alhagi?

 

How much honey can be collected from a Alhagi. There have been isolated cases where bee colonies could collect up to 50 kg of Alhagi honey per season. Although most often, the honey yield from Alhagi can be at the level of 10-12 kg of commercial Alhagi honey, even if the honey is pumped out twice, in June and July.

 

When is the best time for Alhagi to produce nectar?

 

When is the best time for Alhagi to secrete nectar? Research shows that flowers false yantaka bloom at 7-8 o'clock when the air temperature reaches 20-22 C. Each Alhagi flower functions only on the day of blooming, and withers in the evening after 21 o'clock. Honey bees visit Alhagi flowers from 10-13 hours to 20-21 hours without a break, collecting nectar.

For the most part, Alhagi honey collection depends on the weather. If the weather is favorable, the control hive can show a gain of up to 3 kg per day, but if a dry wind begins and the nectar in the Alhagi flowers becomes too thick, the control hive shows zero or loss. Therefore, for beekeepers of semi-deserts and dry steppes, it is extremely important to get to the Alhagi flowering, which begins immediately after the psoralea blooms before the dry winds, and ideally, so that the dry winds do not interfere with the honey flow from the Alhagi.

 

Alhagi when it secretes nectar from extrafloral nectaries

 

It should be noted that the sugar productivity of Alhagi is very high. Therefore, in years favorable for the release of sugary substances, sugar is released on the leaves and twigs of Alhagi, in the form of drops sparkling in the sun, which are also called manna. The release of manna usually occurs in the fall. The release of sweet liquid occurs as a result of a decrease in temperature. Plants secrete a sweet liquid on branches, leaves and spines, which turns into grains of sugar after 2-3 days. One Alhagi bush can produce from 2 to 5 g of manna, so 12-28 kg of manna can be collected from one hectare. Manna contains water - 5 5%, gum - 1.9% and sugars 85%, of which trisaccharides are approximately 50%, as well as sucrose, fructose, bitter substances and mannitol. This manna can be used in confectionery production. Moreover, preparing it is not so difficult; to do this, simply lay out a tarpaulin under a bush and shake the manna from the branches.

In the morning, when the sweet juice begins to come out of the plants and is still in a liquid state, the bees eagerly collect it. 

Alhagi pollen carrier

 

Does Alhagi produce pollen? Yes, Alhagi is also important for bees as a pollen-bearing plant. Bees readily collect pollen from Alhagis, forming it into small pollen. The color of Alhagi pollen depends on the type of plant. Thus, bees carry bright orange pollen from the Persian Alhagi. While from other types of Alhagi, bees bring light pollen, yellowish-grayish in color. 

Alhagi honey

 

Alhagi honey (jantak honey, yantak honey) collected from Persian Alhagi plants has a light amber color, is pleasant to the taste, and has a faint aroma. Immediately after pumping out the honey, a layer of white foam forms on its surface; during storage, the foam gradually disappears. The film that remains is easily removed and the Alhagi honey becomes transparent and light. During long-term storage, honey crystallizes.

Alhagi honey, collected from plants of other Alhagi species, has a creamy color, quickly crystallizes into small crystals, Alhagi honey is very aromatic and delicate in taste.

Alhagi honey can often be found in the markets of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and sometimes in the southern regions of Russia, in the Astrakhan region and other regions, as well as in the North Caucasus.

Alhagi honey collected in Uzbekistan has a diastase number of about 13.9-40.1 Gothe units.