Pomological Attributes and Chemical Composition of Cultivars and Wild Genotypes of Pistachios (Pistacia vera L.) in Iran

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the pomological attributes and chemical composition of 35 pistachio (<em>Pistacia vera L</em>.) genotypes, including fifteen wild-types and twenty of the important cultivar pistachios from Iran. The results revealed that cultivar pistachios in terms of important characters such as the split nuts (78.57%), blank nuts (6.96%), 100-nuts weight (118.86 g), and size (20.84 mm) were superior to wild cultivars. Higher percentages of the split nuts were observed for ‘Akbari' genotype (92.81%), and the lowest rate of blank nuts was observed in ‘Fandoghi 48' (2.84%). Pistachio kernel is rich in nutrients which is almost the same in wild and cultivar genotypes. The mean N, P, K, Mg, Ca, Na, Fe, Zn and Mn values of the pistachio kernels studied were 3.39%, 0.52%, 0.88%, 0.14%, 0.27%, 0.08%, 33.20 μg g^-1, 22.40 μg g^-1 and 7.38 μgg^-1, respectively. The ranges of protein and oil content were 13.70-23.63% and 45.81-55.49%, respectively. According to the results, there was a considerable difference in physical and pomological properties among wild and cultivar pistachio nuts, while there was less difference in oil content and nutrition quality between them.