Evaluation of some morphological and biochemical characteristics of wild seeded ‎barberry genotypes (Berberis L.) in Shahrood region

Barberry is one of the most important horticultural crops that has a privileged position among horticultural products due to its unique medicinal properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphological and biochemical characteristics of the fruit of some wild barberry genotypes in Shahroud to introduce the superior genotypes. 27 barberry genotypes were selected from three regions of Shahroud (Nekarman, Olang and Dehkhair), and sampling from each genotype was done in three replications. Morphological traits including fruit width and length, fruit weight, fruit tail length, seed width and length, seeds weight, number of seeds per fruit, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, as well as total phenol and flavonoid, anthocyanins content and antioxidant activity were evaluated. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the genotypes in terms of the evaluated traits. The highest length, width and weight of fruit, seed length and width, seeds weight, seeds number per fruit, leaf length and width, petiole and cluster length were observed in Olang 1 (OL1) genotype. Fruit weight in the studied genotypes, varied from 0.09 in Nekarman 5 (NK5) to 0.28 g in OL2 and 0.27 g in OL1 genotypes. The highest amount of phenol (75 mg/g FW), flavonoids (37.2 mg/100 g FW) and antioxidant activity (38%) were recorded in OL3 genotype. Genotypes collected from Neckarman region had considrable anthocyanins content. According to the results, the highest (109%) and lowest (6.10%) amount of phenotypic coefficient of variation were observed for chroma index and cluster length, respectively.