Morphological and Chemical Diversity and Antioxidant Capacity of the Service Tree (Sorbus domestica L.) Fruits from Two Eco-Geographical Regions

Abstract

Service tree, Sorbus domestica L., is a rare and neglected wild fruit tree species of southern and central Europe. Being distributed in different eco-geographical regions, with fragmented and low-density populations, S. domestica represents an interesting model case for investigating patterns of within- and between-population diversity at geographical and environmental scales. This study aimed to analyze the proximate composition, antioxidant activity, and morphometric fruit characteristics. We examined the diversity and population divergences of 49 S. domestica individuals originating from seven populations across continental and Mediterranean eco-geographical regions. In addition, tests of isolation by distance and environment were performed to detect the magnitude of divergence explained by geographic and environmental variables. Significant differences between the studied populations were found in almost all of the studied morphometric and chemical fruit characteristics. The studied service tree populations were characterized by high phenotypic variation despite the low number of trees per population. Model-based population structure analysis using morphometric and chemical fruit characteristics revealed three groups of service tree populations. We concluded that non-effective pollen and seed dispersal along with genetic drift and specific environmental factors resulted in a distinct phenotype with a specific chemical composition in the isolated island population. In addition, a pattern of isolation by the environment was revealed. We infer that morphological and chemical differences between the studied populations in the true service tree from different eco-geographical regions were mediated by adaptation to the specific environmental conditions.

Exploring the potential of phenolic and antioxidant compounds in new Rosaceae fruits

“…Focusing only in Sorbus fruits, there also are some researchers who reported some results comparing different maturity stages, 89 different parts of the fruit, 90 different genotypes, 67,71 different harvesting dates, 91 and different locations, 92,93 all reporting values of the same range of magnitude as the results reported here.…”

Fruit Quality Characteristics of Service Tree (Sorbus domestica L.) Genotypes

“…The lowest (0.71%) TA value was recorded in the 14MR02 genotype (Table ). In a study investigating TA values in service tree fruits, acidity values ranged from 0.64 to 0.74% . In a study conducted in service tree fruits, TA values were found between 5.9 and 12.2% .…”

“…In a study investigating TA values in service tree fruits, acidity values ranged from 0.64 to 0.74%. 39 In a study conducted in service tree fruits, TA values were found between 5.9 and 12.2%. 35 In a study conducted on service tree fruits in Kocaeli province, the highest TA value was found to be 0.42%.…”

Assessment of the phenotypic diversity of wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) populations and halfsib lines by multivariate statistical analyses

“…Likewise, the locality is characterized by the lowest precipitation sums and the highest mean air temperatures during growing season. Therefore, higher content of antioxidants and secondary metabolites in the seedlings of populations Prnjavor probably represents the drought-tolerance mechanism aimed at neutralization of reactive oxygen species, and, consequently, avoidance of the oxidative damages caused by water stress (Mechri et al, 2020;Poljak et al, 2021). For example, Visi-Rajczi et al (2021) reported that European beech provenances originating from warmer climate were characterized by higher enzyme activity.…”

“…Recent studies showed that multivariate statistical analyses can be efficiently used for evaluation of the phenotypic diversity, providing a valuable information on the species variability patterns and multi-traits relationships (Ganopoulos et al, 2015). In addition, these analyses proved particularly useful for characterization of extensive data sets consisting of large number of parameters (see Petruccelli et al, 2013;Moradi et al, 2020;Poljak et al, 2021). Hence, our research assessed the variability of populations and half-sib lines of wild cherry, originating from natural populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, using a set of morphological, anatomical, physiological and biochemical traits.…”