Morphological Characterization and Chemical Composition of Fruits of the Traditional Croatian Chestnut Variety 'Lovran Marron'

Abstract

Summary'Lovran Marron' is the only known traditional Croatian variety of the sweet chestnut. The objective of this study is to specify qualitative and quantitative morphological characteristics and to analyze the chemical composition of the 'Lovran Marron' fruits as well as to compare them to Marušnjak fruits (trees from the 'Lovran Marron' seed) and fruits from the local natural sweet chestnut population. Seven morphological characteristics were measured: fruit mass, height, width and thickness, scar length and width, and the length of the longest intrusion of the seed coat into the kernel. Eight qualitative characteristics were estimated: embryony, degree of penetration of the seed coat into the kernel, fruit shape, glossiness and colour, kernel colour, hairiness towards the top of the fruit and the existence of longitudinal stripes. 'Lovran Marron' has desirable qualitative and quantitative fruit characteristics. The Marušnjak trees mostly have intermediate morphological traits of fruits in comparison with 'Lovran Marron' and trees from the natural population. 'Lovran Marron' had the smallest mass fractions on average of: K, Mg, Ca, Na, Mn, Cu and Fe. The highest mass fractions on average of these macro-and microelements were characteristic of the trees from the natural population. The highest average content of carbohydrates was recorded in the 'Lovran Marron' and the lowest in the fruits from the natural population. The Marušnjak fruits had intermediate water, protein, ash, carbohydrates, and macro-and microelement content. The content of Cd and Pb was lower in all samples than the maximum allowed amounts in the sweet chestnut fruits.

Chemical Compositions and Sugar Profiles of Consumed Chestnut Cultivars in the Marmara Region, Turkey

“…Due to the large proportion of moisture, sugar content, enzyme activity and pericarp characteristics, the shelf life of chestnuts is very limited (Correia et al, 2009). According to several studies (De La Montana Miguelez et al, 2004;Pereira-Lorenzo et al, 2006;Ertan, 2007;Borges et al, 2008;Silvanini et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2015;Poljak et al, 2016), the chemical composition of chestnut fruits can be changed by cultivar (genotype), environmental factors (climatic conditions, soil characteristics and production practices) and altitude.…”

Magnetic Biocatalysts of Pectinase: Synthesis by Macromolecular Cross-Linker for Application in Apple Juice Clarification

“…Pectic substances are a complex of glycoside macromolecules with a high molecular mass. These substances can be found in plants and are responsible for the structure and integrity of plant tissue ( 3 ).…”

Fruit and seedling diversity among sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) populations in Turkey

“…According to Mattioni et al (2008) three main managing types (domestication levels) may be identified for sweet chestnut: (1) naturalized stands; (2) managed coppice; and (3) orchards. Additio-nally, in the Mediterranean countries there are a large number of old, grafted cultivars of sweet chestnut (Goulão et al 2001;Pereira-Lorenzo et al 2001, 2010Botta et al 2005;Martin et al 2007;Poljak et al 2016, i.e. varieties of the sweet chestnut with the best quality, tasty and large fruits.…”

“…In many fields of plant sciences, morphological information's are still very important (Douaihy et al 2012; such as different taxon delimitation (Mac-Key 1988;Poljak et al 2014a;Sękiewicz et al 2016), population variability (Brus et al 2011(Brus et al , 2016Douaihy et al 2012;Poljak et al , 2014aPoljak et al , 2018Zebec et al 2014Zebec et al , 2015, cultivar characterization (Ertan 2007;Ertan et al 2007;Poljak et al 2016) and selection (Polat and Özkaya 2005;Solar et al 2001Solar et al , 2005, morphological and physiological seed characterization (Powell 2010;Yilmaz and Yüksel 2014;Drvodelić et al 2015;Daneshvar et al 2016), and trends in leaf morphology regarding the branch position and patterns of crown plasticity (Bruschi et al 2003;Bednorz 2006;Pol-jak et al 2014b). The studies of European and Turkish sweet chestnut populations revealed high morphological variation within populations and low differentiation between populations (Villani et al 1991;Pereira-Lorenzo et al 1996;Serdar 1999;Podjavorsek et al 1999;Serdar and Soylu 1999;Solar et al 2001Solar et al , 2005Miguelez et al 2004;Bolvanský and Užík 2005;Ertan 2007;Idžojtić et al 2009;Mujić et al 2010;.…”