Evaluation of seed quality and oil parameters in native Iranian almond (Prunus L. spp.) species

Abstract

We assessed chemical composition and variation in oil content and seed weight of 40 wild-growing almonds (Prunus L. spp.) accessions collected from different parts of Iran. There were significant differences in kernel weight and oil parameters. Accessions ranged from 0.20 to 1.5 g in kernel weight, 0.2–3.0 mm in shell thickness, and 16–55 % in oil content. The predominant vegetable oil components of kernels were 4.6–9.5 % palmitic acid, 0.4–0.8 % palmitoleic acid, 1.0–3.4 % stearic acid, 48.8–88.4 % oleic acid and 11.3–33.2 % linoleic acid. Linolenic acid was detected in 15 accessions. High heritability was recorded for all studied traits and was maximum for shell thickness (98.5 %) and minimum for oil content (97.1 %). Maximum and minimum ‘Euclidean’ pair wise dissimilarities were 17.9 and 0.5, respectively. All 40 accessions were grouped into two major clusters.