Evaluation of an isolated Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) population from Eastern Transylvania, Romania

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1 WFL Pulisher Science nd Technology Meri-Rstilntie B, FI- Helsinki, Finlnd e-mil: Journl of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol. (&) : -. Evlution of n isolted Persin wlnut (Juglns regi L.) popultion from Estern Trnsylvni, Romni Rezső Thiesz, Attil Bndi, Mgdoln Tóth nd Adlert Blog * Deprtment of Horticulture, Fculty of Technicl Science, Spienti University Tîrgu-Mureş, Ro-, POB, Cp., Tg- Mures/Corunc, Sighisor str. C. Romni. * e-mil: logdlert@yhoo.co.uk., thiesz@ms.spienti.ro, ndittil@yhoo.com. Deprtment of Pomology, Fculty of Horticulturl Science, Corvinus University of Budpest, Budpest, Villányi str., Hungry. e-mil: mgdoln.toth@uni-corvinus.hu Received Jnury, ccepted Mrch. Astrct An isolted wlnut popultion ws investigted in Estern Trnsylvni, Romni, in order to collect informtion for improving the present ssortment of scion cultivrs for the Ntionl nd Interntionl Breeding Progrm. A totl of wlnut individuls were investigted to determine ) the min iologicl chrcteristics of the trees; nd ) to scertin the min physicl nd qulittive chrcteristics of the nuts. The wlnut popultion we studied cn e considered s geneticlly vlule one. Of the individuls % flowered etween th of April nd th of My, thus voiding lte spring frost dmge. Such types er undntly in cold climte on lterl shoots nd lso hve high qulity fruit. In the present evlution, % of the individuls hd men flowering time etween th nd th of April. Although injuries from lte spring frost re frequent in this re; the spring frost dmge ws low, nd high qulity fruit ws otined. Among the individuls, provided the est proportion of kernel mss compred with endocrp. Sensory chrcteristics of the nuts (size, colour, strength nd flvour) were tested. The most vlule individuls, which were considered s prospective elites, were tested nd compred with interntionlly recognised cultivrs ( Frnquette, Hrtley, Miloti nd ). Compring the totl qulity scores of the elites nd cultivrs in the study, we cn oserve tht only one hd low score (); however, its strength nd flvour were similr to other cultivrs. According to our oservtions, mny individuls from this isolted popultion showed the sme qulity s some interntionlly recognized cultivrs. Key words: Flowering periods, size, colour, strength, flvour of kernel, prospective elites. Introduction Persin wlnut (Juglns regi L.) is commercilly cultivted in mny regions round the world for its timer, s well s for its nuts. Europen production of Persin wlnut still lrgely depends on trees originted from seedlings. During the lst yers, importnt work on seedling selection hs een crried out in locl popultions of wlnut throughout Europe. Also, the chrcteristics of wild wlnut trees hve een descried in Bulgri, Germny, Greece, Hungry, Itly, Polnd, Portugl, Romni, Sloveni, Spin nd the Ukrine -. In Romni over % of the yield is otined on isolted wlnut trees which cn e found round houses or on privte properties. Locl popultions present gret genetic vriility due to the method of seed reproduction, nd lso ecuse of n intensive exchnge of seminl mteril with Hungry, Austri nd Seri. Phenotypes of the cultivrs in Romni re descried y their physicl chrcteristics nd nmed fter the loclities where they cn e found, e.g., Siişel,,,,,,,,,, ; Geogiu,,,, ; Homorod ; Gelml ; Romoşel ; Apold ; Crăciunel,,, Mez,,,,,,, ; Măgureni, ; Rotund de Stu Mre, Guău ; Gurău ; Sărms ; Cluj ; Seliste, Cãtin ; Bistriţ ; Dumitr, ; nd Viisor. Vlule edile nuts produced y wlnut trees re well pprecited ecuse they re rich in unsturted ft (linoleic, oleic cid). They lso contin other eneficil components like plnt protein (e.g., rginine, leucine), crohydrtes (e.g., dietry fire), vitmins (e.g., vitmin A, E), pectic sustnces, minerls (mgnesium, potssium, phosphorus, sulphur, copper nd iron), plnt sterols nd phytochemicls (phenolic cids, flvonoids etc.). Improved wlnut cultivrs require well-seled shell with lightcoloured kernel, free of flvours nd comprising out % of the nut weight. Oil qulity my e concern in the future,. From the consumer s point of view (stisfction nd further consumption), the sensory properties of nuts re importnt, especilly their visul nd tste properties, which mens sensory chrcteriztion is quite dvisle. Due to the vriety of loctions where the Persin wlnut (J. regi) is cultivted in Estern-Europe nd Western-Asi, it is essentil to know the iologicl chrcteristics nd nut qulity of the vrious prospective elites nd cultivrs. Some studies hve shown tht nuts otined from the high-ltitude loctions were lighter-coloured nd required more force to frcture the shells thn those hrvested t lower ltitudes,. The region of Estern Trnsylvni where the investigtion ws crried out my e one of the coldest oth in Romni nd in UE (- to - o C in winter nd to o C in summer). Therefore, this isolted popultion, growing y seedlings, my e very resistnt Journl of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol. (&), July-Octoer

2 to numer of iotic nd iotic fctors. We concentrted on wlnuts growing in the countryside s possile seminl mteril for the Ntionl nd Interntionl Breeding Progrmme. The survey continued from to, nd the flowering synchroniztion ws surveyed ech yer from Mrch to My. The min physicl chrcteristics of fruits were oserved y collecting fruits from ech individul ech yer, nd the following chrcteristics were mesured under lortory conditions: the thickness of the endocrp nd the proportions of endocrp nd nutmet. Sensory chrcteristics of nuts of the most vlule individuls, considered s prospective elites, were tested nd compred with interntionlly recognised control cultivrs ( Frnquette, Hrtley, Miloti, nd ). These mesurements were crried out in the lortory of the Ntionl Institute for Agriculturl Qulity Control with group of independent ssessors. Visul properties of the kernel (size nd colour) were evluted, nd then the kernel ws tsted to ssess its flvour. Nuts were hrvested in Septemer nd. Ten prospective elite codes were used which contined the first three or four chrcters of the respective loclity nd its GPS code numer (Tle ). From ech elite nd cultivr fruits were used for the qulity test. Ech ws coded from to. Sixty minutes efore the evlution, the shell of ech nut ws crcked nd the kernel divided into four qurters. Then ech ssessor ws llotted four qurters derived from the different nuts. Testing ws performed t room temperture. Between the ssessment of different smples, wter nd red were ville for tste neutrliztion. Sensory evlution comprised estimtion of externl nd internl properties of the nuts. The following properties were evluted on rnge of to for dt nlysis purposes: the size, the colour, the strength nd the flvour of the kernel. The one-wy nlysis of vrince (ANOVA) ws used for testing differences in the dt of endocrp nd kernel mss proportion; nd sensory evlution etween elites nd cultivrs. ANOVA my e used to exmine the effects of two or more ctegoricl vriles (fctors), oth individully nd together, on n experimentl response. Bck trnsferred mens nd P <. were considered s sttisticlly significnt differences. Results Altogether individuls were found in loclities. The popultion cn e considered one of the most isolted in Romni; individuls hve een growing y seedling for hundreds of yers in locl communities. One of the min ojectives of the study ws to select lte lefing nd lte flowering wlnut types with high lterl yield within seedling popultion, wlnut types which would not suffer injuries from lte spring frost. Of the individuls % flowered etween th of April nd th of My, thus voiding lte spring frost dmge. Such types lso er undntly in cold climte on lterl shoots nd hve high qulity fruit. As result of the expeditionry oservtions, forms were selected, ccording to chrcteristics of lte lefing, lterl yield nd light resistnce. Of the individuls % hd men flowering time etween th nd th of April. They my suffer injuries from frequent lte spring frost in this re; however, the spring frost dmge ws low nd trees produced high qulity fruit (Fig. ). For mny individuls in the popultion, the period of time during which pollen is shed does not coincide with the period of femle flower receptivity to pollen. These individuls require nother cultivr for pollintion since the timing of the mle nd femle functions on given tree is different. This is referred to s dichogmy. Three possile forms were identified: protogyny (first femle) where the femle flower ecomes receptive efore pollen shedding egins. These genotypes represented only.% of totl genotypes in the re. g g p p % Flowering time Figure. The flowering time of the individuls in popultion. % -. April April - My medium lter Tle. The men mss of fruits, endocrp nd kernel, nd mss proportions etween endocrp nd kernel. Cod Elites nd cultivrs Totl mss Endocrp mss Kernel mss Kernel mss Endocrp mss (g) (g) (g) proportion (%) proportion (%) Cser Al-...., Szen Al Fut Mk Ozsd Fut Poi Frnquette..... Hrtley..... Miloti Journl of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol. (&), July-Octoer

3 The second form is protndry (first mle), where pollen shed egins efore the femle flower ecomes receptive, represented y.% of the totl genotypes. This ws lso present for the most vlule genotypes (Tle ). In some cses (.%), there ws overlp in the functionl periods, llowing for some degree of self-pollintion (Fig. ). There ws significnt tendency for protndrous cultivrs to hve greter overlp or incomplete dichogmy, thn for protogynous, resulting in more self-pollintion in protndrous cultivrs. Some cultivrs hve no overlp of pollen shed nd femle receptivity, nd these re sometimes termed functionlly dioecious. Adding to the complexity of the issue, the high climtic vrition in the re cn influence the degree of dichogmy expressed y given cultivr, nd, less commonly, the type of dichogmy. Nut chrcteristics: Considering nut phenotypes, the individuls cn e clssified into four different groups: ) Roundish, with.% in the cumultive smple nd dominnt in nine loclities nd genotypes. ) Elliptic, with.% in the cumultive smple nd dominnt in six loclities nd genotypes c) Egg-shped, with.% in the cumultive smple nd dominnt in two loclities nd genotypes d) Asymmetric egg-shped.% in the cumultive smple nd lso dominnt in two loclities nd genotypes. The thickness of the endocrp vried etween. mm for roundish forms nd. mm for elliptic forms. Considering the men mss proportion of kernel nd endocrp of the individuls, the differences were sttisticlly significnt (F =., P <.) (Fig. ). Among the individuls, hd the est mss proportion of kernel. These genotypes lso possessed lte flowering properties, nd they could e considered in reeding progrms s prospective elites to develop new cultivrs with consistently high fruit qulity (Tle ). Sensory evlution: The ssessors evluted four properties of the coded cultivrs using scle from to. These properties were the size, colour, strength nd flvour of the kernel. The size nd colour were estimted visully y ppernce, which is vitl ttriute nd involves nlysis of oth geometric ttriutes nd colour ttriutes. There were mrginlly significnt differences mong the cultivrs in terms of the size of kernel, nd mny prospective elites proved to hve the sme or even greter kernel size s the recognized cultivrs, e.g., Hrtley (Fig..). The colour of kernel ws evluted with shelled wlnuts. The colour of the elites Szen- nd Al- nd the colour of Frnquette, Hrtley nd were evluted s the lightest y ssessors nd received the highest mrks. On the other hnd, the nuts of locl cultivrs except Ozsd- hd the drkest shell mong ll cultivrs. The cumultive score ccorded y ssessors differed significntly etween the two groups (F =., P <.) (Fig. ). There were no sttisticlly significnt differences mong the cultivrs in the strength of the kernels (Fig. ). Perceived tste (internl properties of kernel) of ssessors ws estimted very similrly; however, the externl or visul properties of wlnuts for mny elites nd cultivrs were different (Fig. ). Tste nd flvour re two different ttriutes tht re frequently Tle. The flowering chrcteristics of the most vlule individuls. Cod Locl Lefing nd genotypes flowering Protogyny Protndry Simultneous Cser- medium Al- lte Szen- medium Al- lte medium Fut- medium Mk- medium Ozsd- medium Fut- medium Poi- medium Endocrp nd kernel proportion (%) (log ) % Kernel.%.% protogynous protndrous simultneous Flowering synchroniztion Figure. The flowering synchroniztion of the individuls in popultion. Endocrp Figure. Similrity etween the men mss proportion of endocrp nd kernel of the individuls. nd men sttisticlly significnt differences (P <.) etween columns (ANOVA). Szen- Al- Mk- Cser- Ozsd- Poi- Fut- Al- Fut- Frnquette Hrtley Miloti Kernel size Figure. The men proportion of kernel size of the ten prospective elites nd four cultivrs. Journl of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol. (&), July-Octoer

4 wrongly equted in the scientific literture. Humn peripherl tste nd smell systems re completely seprte nd distinct. Wter-solule compounds contriute to tste when they interct with specilized cells in the orl cvity. Certin voltile compounds contriute to flvour vi the olfctory orgn situted in the nsl cvity. Compring the totl qulity scores of the cultivrs investigted, we cn oserve tht only one hd lower score (), however, its strength nd flvour were similr to other cultivrs nd displyed the highest kernel mss proportion. According to our studies, mny individuls from this isolted popultion presented the sme qulity properties s some interntionlly recognized cultivrs (Fig. ). Discussion The wlnut popultion presented in this study cn e considered s geneticlly vlule popultion. Ten prospective elites were selected with ove verge qulity fruits nd high mss proportion of kernel. These could ply one importnt role in possile reeding progrmme of wlnut imed t improving the present ssortment of scion cultivrs from Trnsylvni. Due to the high vriility (kernel/endocrp proportion, colour, strength, flvour) of the nuts nd the diversity of the locl prospective elites, seedling methods for mss production my not e commercilly useful. The trend in wlnut cultivtion nd consequently in selection nd reeding, is to seprte the production of wood from the production of fruit. However, ll genetic informtion issued from wlnut reeding progrmmes is lso eing used in current progrms in Western Europe which re focused on wood production (FAIR III-CT-- ). The cler seprtion tht exists mong reeding progrms implies the necessity of including the two ojectives in the genetic conservtion of the species, which is lso recommended y other uthors. Our investigtion lso provides useful dt regrding sensory properties of the locl prospective elites which were evluted, compred with those of recognized cultivrs. Bsed on this study it cn e suggested tht consumer preferences should e considered for the genetic selection. The sensory chrcteristics of nuts depend not only on the cultivr, ut lso on the growing conditions of the production re; further sensory nlyses need to e conducted,. At present, most of the nut supply in Romni comes from wlnuts growing in the countryside. As this species is very sensitive to numer of iotic nd iotic fctors such s climte, fungus ttcks nd cteril diseses, it is possile tht nturl selection is very strong force in wlnut popultions. Due to the lrge scle climtic vritions in the investigted region (- to - o C during the winter nd + to + o C during summer) these popultions my e reltively resistnt nd well dpted to iotic conditions. Accordingly, long-term ntionl reeding progrmme would e necessry for conserving nd improving these individuls. Szen- Szen- Al- Mk- Cser- Ozsd- Szen- Al- Mk- Cser-Ozsd- Poi-Fut-Al-Fut- Frnquette HrtleyMiloti Alsó Szen- Al- Al- Mk- Mk- Cser- Cser- Ozsd- Ozsd- Poi- Poi- Poi- Fut- Al- Fut- Frnquette Hrtley Miloti Flvour Figure. The men proportion of the estimted kernel flvour of ten prospective elites nd four cultivrs. Fut- Strength Al- Fut- Frnquette Hrtley Miloti Figure. The men proportion of the estimted kernel strength of ten prospective elites nd four cultivrs. Fut- Al- Fut- Frnquette Hrtley Miloti Colour Figure. The men proportion of kernel colour of the ten prospective elites nd four cultivrs. nd men sttisticlly significnt differences (P <.) etween columns (ANOVA). Szen- Al- Mk- Cser- Ozsd- Poi- Fut- Al- Fut- Frnquette Hrtley Miloti Totl qulity score Figure. The men proportion of the estimted totl qulity score of kernel qulity. Journl of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol. (&), July-Octoer

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