Physical and chemical characterization of Ceratonia siliqua L. germplasm in Turkey

Abstract: Carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is natively grown in the coastal areas of the Aegean and Mediterranean region in Turkey. The main carob growing areas (Mediterranean and Aegean) were surveyed and a total 70 promising wild and grafted carob genotypes were selected based on physical and chemical pod properties. Preliminary results showed that Turkey has very rich carob genetic resources containing considerable variations for most of the pod traits. In general, wild carob had smaller pods than the grafted ones. Pod mass ranged from 29.16g to 120.28g in the wild genotypes and 71.71g to 147.91g in the grafted genotypes with an average 107.61g for the grafted and 63.72g for the wild genotypes. The average pod dimensions (width, length and thickness) were 18.16mm, 16.18cm and 6.42mm for the wild genotypes and 21.79mm, 16.91cm and 8.79mm for the grafted genotypes. The average soluble solid content ranged from 59.42% in the wild and 64.06% in the grafted genotypes. The average total acidity of the wild and grafted genotypes was similar (0.78%). The pod traits of the wild genotypes differ significantly from those of the grafted genotypes, and the wild genotypes showed higher variations in these traits compared to the grafted genotypes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]