Phytochemical and morpho-physiological variations in sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) populations of Taleghan region in Iran

Abstract

Background: Sea buckthorn is a thorny shrub with nitrogen-fixing ability belonging to the Elaeagnaceae family. Objective: In this study, phytochemical and morpho-physiological traits in wild populations of sea buckthorn were investigated in two consecutive years in the Taleghan region of Iran. Methods: Some morpho-physiological traits in several parts of plants were measured. Also, some phytochemical analysis of fruit pulp (through spectrophotometric methods) and seed oil content was performed. Results: The results showed that the populations had significant differences (P ≤ 0.01 or P ≤ 0.05) in most of the main morpho-physiological traits and all phytochemical properties of leaves and fruits in growing seasons during two studied years. The highest and lowest amount of some more important traits of fruit were ranged from 16.02 to 48.55 mg/g, total phenol (Jostan-Bozaj), 0.71 to 1.65 mg/g carotenoid (Gelyard-Fashandak), 0.92 to 2.46 mg/g flavonoid (Dehdar-Shahrak), and 1.37 to 10.00 mg/g vitamin C (Gelyard-Shahrak). Factor analysis based on PCA revealed that the first three-component contributed about 70 and 76% of the total variation for phytochemical and morpho-physiological traits of populations, respectively. The first component (PC1) was contributed by some traits such as fruit glucose, total soluble solids (TSS), vitamin C, and leaf lycopene for phytochemical traits. Conclusion: The wide range of variation across the sea buckthorn populations in this region can be used for the selection of suitable genotypes for improvement and pharmaceutical exploitation of this plant in Iran.

Keywords

• vitamin c
• lycopene
• flavonoid
• carotenoid
• phenol
• tannin