The consumption of cereal contaminated with mycotoxins poses a serious health risk for humans and animals. The present work aims to evaluate the presence of mycotoxins in talkan, a cereal-based food commonly consumed by the Turkic population. The presence of mycotoxins was investigated in a total of 50 samples obtained from Kazakhstan. After a preliminary screening using various ELISA kits, mycotoxins were confirmed and quantified by HPLC-MS/MS method. More than 28% of the samples were positive for at least one mycotoxin. The calculated probably daily intake for adults and children was 20% above the tolerable daily intake for aflatoxin B1 and deoxynivalenol, while it was above 100% for zearalenone, indicating a high risk for the Kazakh population. A total of 12 samples exhibited concentrations above the European maximum level for ochratoxin A, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol, however, these values were within the limits established by the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus Customs Union (TR CU 015/2011).

This article is devoted to contemporary return migrations by Kazakhs – a process of great significance for the population and cultural policies of the government of independent Kazakhstan. I examine the repatriation process of the Kazakh population from the point of view of the cultural transformations of Kazakh society itself, unveiling the intended and unintended effects of these return migrations. The case of the Kazakh returns is a historically unique phenomenon, yet it provides data permitting the formulation of broader generalisa-tions. It illustrates the dual impact of culturally different environments, which leads to a simultaneous pre-serving and changing of the culture of the new immigrants. The analyses found in this article are based upon data collected during two periods of fieldwork conducted in June–July 2016 and March 2018 at several locations in Kazakhstan and in cooperation with a Kazakh university. The research methodology is anchored in multi-sited, multi-year fieldwork.

Eleven ammonites species are described from the condensed phosphate beds of Mangyshlak (in north-western Kazakhstan): Lewesiceras mantelli (Wright and Wright, 1951), Subprionocyclus neptuni (Geinitz, 1849), Prionocyclus spp., Allocrioceras angustum (J. de C. Sowerby, 1850), Hyphantoceras ( Hyphantoceras) reussianum (d’Orbigny, 1850), Hyphantoceras ( Hyphantoceras) cf. flexuosum (Schlüter, 1872), Eubostrychoceras ( Eubostrychoceras) cf. saxonicum (Schlüter, 1875), Scalarites? bohemicus (Fritsch, 1872), Sciponoceras bohemicum bohemicum (Fritsch, 1872), Scaphites geinitzii d’Orbigny, 1850, and Scaphites kieslingswaldensis Langenhan and Grundey, 1891. They provide an incomplete record that spans at maximum upper Middle Turonian to Lower Coniacian and at minimum Upper Turonian to Lower Coniacian. Associated inoceramid bivalves span an interval from upper Middle Turonian (based on the known first occurrence of Inoceramus inaequivalvis Schlüter, 1872) to the lower and middle Lower Coniacian, based on the known last occurrence of Cremnoceramus crassus inconstans (Woods, 1912), in the lower and middle parts of the Lower Coniacian.

This paper discusses the question of how the old Kazakh custom of the ban on uttering the name of a husband and his male relatives by his wife is still observed in modern Kazakhstan. To do this, material from five main regions of Kazakhstan (North, South, Central, East and West) was collected and analysed. The study aims to do a sociolinguistic analysis of the result of the questionnaire. Although this old tradition is well known and described a long time ago by such researchers as Nikolaj Ilminskii, Nikolaj Grodekov, Ybyraı Altynsarın, Grigorij Potanin, Aleksandr Samoilovich and others, no modern fieldwork was done to check whether this tradition is still alive and how it changes. As is known, present-day Kazakhstan had changed significantly since the 19th century, when Ilminskii first studied the Kazakh language and traditions, Wilhelm Radloff and the researchers mentioned earlier, who were linguists and explorers. However, many cultures are still observed. As Grodekov noted, the avoiding of the pronunciation of a husband’s name and his male relatives by his wife is familiar to the Kazakhs and Kirghiz. Somoilovich, basing on Mustafa Shoqaı’s materials, devoted a paper to this question. Perhaps the best story was related by Altynsarın, who has registered an anecdote how a woman who went to bring water and saw a wolf killing an ewe rushed back to her house and shouted for help, transforming the words ‘lake’, ‘reed’, ‘wolf’, ‘sheep’ and ‘knife’, since her husband and his male relatives bore names composed of these words.

To improve plant resistance to pests, we analysed the impact of various agronomic practices on the number and species diversity of pests in the crops of spring wheat varieties of foreign and Kazakhstan breeding in North- Eastern Kazakhstan.
The intensive development of agriculture, resulting in the new technological flow processes of wheat growing, the sowing of foreign varieties not previously cultivated under local conditions, and climate change contribute to the formation of new food chains in agrocenoses. These new food chains require the monitoring of plant-feeding species with the help of ecological approaches and techniques.
Efficient protection of crops with plant feeders requires constant updating on the phytosanitary in agrocenoses. Information on phytosanitary monitoring previously carried out in the region is not available, so it became necessary to collect data and analyse the number and species composition of wheat pests, considering new foreign varieties and cultivation technology practices.
The research was carried out in 2021 in typical agricultural organisations of the North-Eastern regions of Kazakhstan with different preceding crops. The vegetation period was characterised by high atmospheric temperatures and a lack of moisture in the soil in spring and summer, contributing to decreasing of plant turgor and damage resistance.
Early sowing of the ‘Triso’ wheat variety was affected by high temperatures and lack of soil moisture in the initial stage of development, which delayed its growth and made it more susceptible to pest damage. The other varieties were sown in optimal dates recommended by regional scientific institutions.