Evaluation of seed quality and oil parameters in native Iranian almond (Prunus L. spp.) species

We assessed chemical composition and variation in oil content and seed weight of 40 wild-growing almonds (Prunus L. spp.) accessions collected from different parts of Iran. There were significant differences in kernel weight and oil parameters. Accessions ranged from 0.20 to 1.5 g in kernel weight, 0.2-3.0 mm in shell thickness, and 16-55 % in oil content. The predominant vegetable oil components of kernels were 4.6-9.5 % palmitic acid, 0.4-0.8 % palmitoleic acid, 1.0-3.4 % stearic acid, 48.8-88.4 % oleic acid and 11.3-33.2 % linoleic acid. Linolenic acid was detected in 15 accessions. High heritability was recorded for all studied traits and was maximum for shell thickness (98.5 %) and minimum for oil content (97.1 %). Maximum and minimum 'Euclidean' pair wise dissimilarities were 17.9 and 0.5, respectively. All 40 accessions were grouped into two major clusters.