Comparative estimation of the biochemical fruit composition of promising taxa of the genus Vaccinium for zoning and breeding in Belarus

Abstract

The article presents the results of a 2-year comparative study of accumulation parameters of some organic acids, carbohydrates, macroelements and phenolic compounds in fruits of six taxa of the genus Vaccinium introduced in Belarus – Swedish variety ‘Putte’ of lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), taken from a natural population, as well as five interspecific hybrids of V. corymbosum and V. angustifolium – early maturing ‘Bluetta’, ‘Collins’, ‘Hardyblue’, ‘Northcountry’ and mid maturing ‘Denise Blue’ from the collection of the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Gantsevichi Scientific Experimental Station, Brest distr.). It was found that the most integral high nutrient level and vitamin value of fruits were at ‘Northcountry’ and especially ‘Hardiblue’ cultivars, while the ‘Collins’ cv. had the smallest one. It was shown that level of nutrient and vitamin value of fruit was lower by 2.5 times at ‘Northcountry’ cv., at ‗Denise Blue’ cv. – by 3.2 times, at the cultivars ‘Putte’ and ‘Bluetta’ by 4.1-4.5 times and at the variety ‘Collins’ by 6.4 times compared with ‘Hardiblue’ the leading cultivar by the given characteristic.