Department of Range Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran Province, Iran.
Department of Seafood Processing, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran Province, Iran.
BMC Plant Biol. 2024 Sep 30;24(1):899. doi: 10.1186/s12870-024-05608-1.
Red-flesh apples (Malus sieversii f. niedzwetzkyana) have attracted attention from consumers and researchers due to their pleasant appearance and taste. These exotic apples are rich sources of nutrients and health-promoting polyphenols and phenolics. This study aimed to investigate morphological (40 quantitative and 13 qualitative traits) and biochemical (5 traits) characteristics of four socioeconomically important red-fleshed apple populations in North and Northeast region of Iran, which are understudied and under serious extinction risk.
The examined characters exhibited wide and statistically significant variations, especially in leaf color (68.86%) and the number of seeds per fruit (61.61%), and more dramatically in the total flavonoids (146.64%) and total phenolics contents (105.81%). There were also strong variations in fresh fruit weight and fruit length, diameter, and flesh thickness. Red, with 34 accessions, was the dominant ripe fruit skin color. All biochemical traits also showed high variations, particularly in total flavonoid content. Red-fleshed Gavramak and Kalateh Khij apples contained the highest biochemical and morphological values, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the first five principal components together accounted for more than 60.83% variation of the total observed variations. Moreover, the cluster dendrogram analysis based on Ward's method indicated three different clusters based on the characters measured, indicating high variation among the accessions.
red-flesh apples can be considered suitable sources of natural antioxidants with great potential as healthy foods and nutraceutical applications. Based on the commercial characters, Red-fleshed Gavramak and Kalateh Khij apples showed the highest fruit quality with proper size and thus can be suggested as superior for cultivation or use in breeding programs due to having higher quality fruits.
红肉苹果（Malus sieversii f. niedzwetzkyana）因其外观和口感宜人而受到消费者和研究人员的关注。这些外来苹果富含营养物质和具有促进健康的多酚和类黄酮。本研究旨在调查伊朗北部和东北部四个具有重要社会经济意义的红肉苹果群体的形态学（40 个定量和 13 个定性特征）和生物化学特征（5 个特征），这些群体研究较少，且正面临严重的灭绝风险。
所检查的特征表现出广泛且具有统计学意义的变异，尤其是在叶片颜色（68.86%）和果实中的种子数量（61.61%），而总类黄酮（146.64%）和总酚含量（105.81%）的变化更为显著。新鲜果实重量和果实长度、直径和果肉厚度也有很大差异。红色（34 个品种）是成熟果实皮色的主要颜色。所有生物化学特征也表现出很高的变异，尤其是总类黄酮含量。红肉 Gavramak 和 Kalateh Khij 苹果分别含有最高的生化和形态学值。主成分分析（PCA）表明，前五个主成分共同解释了总观测变异的 60.83%以上。此外，基于 Ward 方法的聚类 dendrogram 分析表明，根据所测量的特征，存在三个不同的聚类，表明品种之间存在很大的变异。
红肉苹果可以被认为是天然抗氧化剂的合适来源，具有作为健康食品和营养保健品应用的巨大潜力。根据商业特征，红肉 Gavramak 和 Kalateh Khij 苹果表现出最高的果实品质，大小适中，因此可以建议作为优良的栽培品种或用于育种计划，因为它们具有更高品质的果实。
