Diversity among native Serbian cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) accessions: An ideal plant for sustainable cultivation, source of antioxidants and functional food

Abstract

From 2018–2020, we evaluated main fruit phisico-chemical properties and antioxidant capacity of 27 natural cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) accessions selected at western Serbia. The results indicated significant differences in FW, SW, Dg, L/D ratio, φ, FRa, SA and FV and contents of primary metabolites, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity among accessions. In general, the best fruit physico-chemical properties and antioxidant activity had ‘AFTM 1′, ‘AFTM 7′, ‘AFTM 8′, ‘AFTM 10′, ‘AFTM 18′ and ‘AFTM 19′ although there were similarities between certain accessions in the values of the evaluated traits. The ‘AFTM 1′ characterized with the highest FW, FRa, both fruit dimensions, Dg, SA, FV, TAc and TPC and with the lowest SSC. The highest SSC had ‘AFTM 14′. The lowest values of all fruit physical traits were registered in ‘AFTM 6′. This accession had good TPC. The ‘AFTM 18′ had the best antioxidant capacity, whereas ‘AFTM 19′ had the highest TFC. The worst vitamin C content, TAc and TPC had ‘AFTM 21′ and ‘AFTM 24′, respectively, whereas the lowest TFC and TAC were registered in ‘AFTM 11′. The highest RI was found in ‘AFTM 8′ and ‘AFTM 10′. The most acidic fruits had ‘AFTM 11′ and ‘AFTM 27′. The ‘AFTM 27′ had the lowest RI, whereas ‘AFTM 24′ had the worst TPC and TFC. The fruit physical characteristics correlated significantly and positively with each other. However, correlations between fruit physical traits and content of primary and/or secondary metabolites were not significant in most cases or were of weak intensity, indicating that larger fruits were generally poorer in phytochemicals content. PCA can be a very useful tool for segregating natural accessions with the best fruit physico-chemical properties and antioxidant activity.