Variation of physical and chemical characters within an elite sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) breeding population

Physicochemical characteristics of 44 elite sea buckthorn hushes were deter mined over 2 years. The bushes can be divided into five groups on the basis of their origins. Significant group differences were detected among most s tudied traits. Finnish origins (subsp. rhamnoides) were characterized by lo w vitamin C (VC) concentration, low total sugar (TS) concentration and high titratable acidity (TA), while Chinese origins (subsp. sinensis) showed hi gh VC, TS and TA. Progenies from crosses between Finnish and Danish individ uals showed no significant difference from their parents for the traits con cerned. Hybrids between Chinese (subsp. turkestanica) and Finnish individua ls were intermediate. However, hybrids between Siberian and Finnish individ uals had a relatively high sugar:acid ratio (SAR), which is a desirable pro perty for fresh fruit production. Large fluctuations in physicochemical cha racteristics between the two years show that the results of one year are no t sufficient to reveal the phenotypic potential of a particular genotype. H owever, strong rank-order correlations for VC, TA, pH, TS, SAR and berry sh ape between the two years suggest that one can compare different genotypes on the basis of 1 year's data. The negative correlation between seed weight and TS suggests that seed weight could usefully and cheaply predict sugar concentration of sea buckthorn berries in a preliminary screening. Climatic conditions and variable periods between ripening and harvesting appear to have considerable effects on the studied traits. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.