Diversity in Important Fruit Traits of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. Genotypes from Northeastern Turkey

In recent years, there has been increased interest in less-known fruit species including Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.). For centuries, fruits of Russian olive have been used for traditional food and dietary supplements in most countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Caucasia, and the Near East. The majority of Russian olive shrubs and trees are obtained from seeds and show great phenotypic diversity around the world. In the literature there are only a few studies on fruits of Russian olive. In the present study, 12 seed-propagated Russian olive genotypes were sampled from Artvin Province in Turkey and the main fruit traits including fruit mass, shape index, pedicel length, peel color, flesh color, moisture, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity were determined. The results clearly showed that the researched genotypes differed in terms of most of the fruit traits including fruit mass, pedicel length, fruit shape index, fruit peel and flesh color, moisture content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity. The average fruit mass ranged from 1.47 to 2.33 g. Most of the genotypes had cream flesh color and a few genotypes had white-cream flesh color. Total phenolic content varied from 388 to 554 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per 100 g fresh fruit base. Among the genotypes A2, A4, A9, and A11 had a fruit mass over 2 g. Local Russian olive genotypes were found to be promising for further valorization through horticultural characteristics for breeding. Some genotypes had significantly higher fruit mass, total phenolic concentration, and antioxidant activity and may be good selections for producing health-related Russian olive products.