The Biometric characteristics of fruits and leaves of Cornus officinalis Siebold et Zucc. genotypes introduced in the M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine

Abstract

In the context of global climate change, the current strategy of agroeconomics focuses on the introduction of unconventional plant species and the selection of new economically important cultivars adapted to the dramatic weather changes. Cornus officinalis (Cornaceae) has Chinese origin, its reintroduction at the M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of NAS of Ukraine started in 1993. Objective of this research was to investigate the biometric parameters of fruits and leaves of C. officinalis genotypes, C. officinalis × C. mas hybrid ‘Etude’ and genotype from the grafting C. officinalis on C. mas under cultivation in M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine, to determine the degree of adaptation of C. officinalis to the climatic conditions of Ukraine (in particular, Right-Bank Forest Steppe) and selection of promising genotypes for further breeding work. Material and methods. We used: a) 26-year-old maternal plant obtained from a two-year-old seedling in 1993 received from the nursery “Northwoods Wholesale Nursery” Mollala (Oregon, USA), where this species was grown as an ornamental plant; b) seedlings of the matern plant; c) cultivar ‘Etude’, which is an artificial hybrid from crossing C. officinalis × C. mas; and d) genotype obtained from grafting C. officinalis × C. mas. In our experiment, maternal plant is indicated as G-01, while other plants – as G-02–G-08 genotypes. We determined the biometric parameters of the fruit (length, diameter and weight), endocarp (length, diameter and weight), pedicel (length and thickness), leaf blade (length, width and number of lateral veins) and petiole (length, width and thickness). We examined the dynamics of fruit and endocarp formation during the season (genotypes G-01–G-03 and G-05) and compared the biometric characteristics of the fruit of genotypes G-01–G-05 from crops of two years, 2010 and 2018, which were most favorable in weather-climatic conditions. We have processed quantitative data using variation statistics in the PAST 2.10 software. The differences between the samples were estimated using the Tukey-Kramer test. The degree of variability was determined by the coefficient of variation. To assess the level of variability, we used the classification of Mamaev (1975). Results. We have found that the largest fruits in 2010 were observed in the genotype G-01 and the smallest – in the genotype G-03. The coefficient of variation of the linear parameters of the fruit and endocarp was in the range 5.7–10.1%; the level of variability was very low or low. The variability of fruit weight and endocarp was high, with a range of coefficient of variation of 7.0–28.3%. The amplitude of the linear parameters of the leaf was wide (coefficient of variation of 9.8–31.0%). The cultivar ‘Etude’ differed from other C. officinalis genotypes in size and weight of (M = 1800 mg, max = 2400 mg) and a much wider amplitude of variation in the length (17.9–22.6 vs. 14.3–18.2 mm) of the fruit. The largest leaves were in the genotypes G-08 and G-01, and the smallest – in the genotype G-02. The cultivar ‘Etude’ did not differ so much by the mean leaf morphometric indices and number of veins, but it demonstrated one of the highest width of the leaf blade (51.5 mm). Conclusions. The data obtained are important for the economic use of C. officinalis and the cultivar ‘Etude’ as food and medicinal plant, as well as for breeding in climatic conditions of Ukraine and for analysis of hybridization features in the genus Cornus in general.

Keywords

• Cornus officinalis
• hybrid
• introduction
• biometrics
• fruit
• leaf