AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DISEASE-FREE SEED PROPAGATED EUROPEAN CHESTNUTS (Castanea sativa Mill.)

Disease and pest free chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) fruits were collected from 13 different seedling origin genotypes during the 2016 harvest season from the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The tree growth habit, nut weight, kernel ratio, kernel color, moisture, crude protein, crude fat, dietary fiber, total polyphenols, antioxidant activity, and fatty acid content of chestnuts were determined. The results showed that most of the genotypes had a semi-upright tree growth habit. The nut weight and kernel ratio were 5.87 g (A-9), 11.13 g (A-1), 73.38% (A-1), and 82.84% (A-12) among genotypes. The total crude fat content ranged from 0.80% (A-11) to 2.14% (A-12) while the crude protein content was between 4.78% (A-10) and 7.96% (A-9). Total polyphenols varied from 78 (A-12) to 124 (A-3) mu g GAE/g and antioxidant activity was found to vary between 5.33 (A-12) and 9.83 (A-3) mu moles Trolox equivalent/g dry weight basis. Oleic and linoleic acid were the major fatty acids in all chestnut fruits, followed by palmitic and linolenic acids. The introduction of these genotypes as new cultivars by vegetative propagation may result in an increase in the quality of the chestnuts from the Mediterranean region of Turkey.