Abstract
According to the International Program for the Botanic Gardens Conservation, botanic gardens contribute to the conservation plant species, which are of great socio-economic importance, and develop and implement a policy to use herbal products derived from sustainably developing sources. The aim of this study was to determine morphometric parameters of fruits of seven genotypes of Mespilus germanica L., which are growing in the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine in M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv). Their morphometric parameters were following: fruit weight from 35.29 to 39.12 g, fruit length from 27.69 to 42.29 mm, fruit diameter from 24.98 to 44.75 mm, length of calyx basin from 17.55 to 32.46 mm. The shape index of the fruits was found in the range of 0.79 to 1.23. It was found that fruit diameter positively correlated with traits such as fruit weight and calyx basin length. Fruit weight was also highly correlated with calyx basin length and fruit length. Using the cluster analysis with Euclidian distances allowed to establish the relationships among the fruits Mespilus germanica germplasm and arranged the genotypes into five relatively homogenous clusters. Hence, the introduction population characterized by quite variability and contains plants with almost all types of fruits. Obtained data can be used for breeding programs and introducing of cultivars in Mespilus germanica.
Highlights
The increasing importance attached to the consumption of healthy food
The shape index of the fruits was found in the range of 0.79 to 1.23
The fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, calyx basin length, and shape index of fruits in seven Mespilus germanica genotypes are shown in Tab. 1
Summary
The increasing importance attached to the consumption of healthy food. Attention is attracted not by traditional fruit crops, but by wild plants with smaller fruits, which, contain natural vitamins and antioxidants: cornelian cherry, mountain ash, sea buckthorn, rose hip, service tree, elderberry, bilberry, mulberry, jujube. (medlar) is included in this group of popular fruit trees. This species belonging to the family Rosaceae Juss. Was introduced to Greece around 700 BC, and to Rome about 200 BC (Baird and Thieret, 1989). The medlar was the most important fruit crop. Interest in it gradually faded away, and later it was replaced by other, more productive and undemanding crops. Mespilus germanica is indigenous to southwest Asia and possibly southeastern Europe – from northern Turkey (some occurrence in Greece and on the Crimea) to the Caucasus and Transcaucasus and the north-eastern part of Iran (Lim, 2012)
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