Impaginato 153 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2019 33(2): 153-160 DOI: 10.13128/ahs-23517 Diversity of morpho-physicochemical traits in Iranian sour cherry genotypes using multivariate analysis S. Aliyoun Nazari 1 (*), J. Hajilou 1, M. Zeinalabedini 2, A. Imami 3 1 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. 2 Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Karaj, Iran. 3 Horticultural Departments of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), Karaj, Iran. Key words: fruit quality traits, genetic diversity, Prunus cerasus L. Abstract: In this study, morpho-physicochemical characterization of sour cherry genotypes from Iran was investigated. Thirty-four morphological and eight physicochemical traits were recorded. Sour cherry genotypes had a high vari- ability in traits related to fruit characters such as fruit weight, stone volume, total anthocyanin content and total soluble solid. As a result, sour cherry geno- types exhibit total phenolic content and antioxidant activity higher than “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo” cultivars. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that leaf dimensions, fruit weight, stone weight, and stone vol- ume could be sufficient for identification of genotypes. Hierarchical cluster analysis classified sour cherry genotypes and “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi boter- mo” cultivars into two main clusters. The first cluster was characterized by a upright tree vigour, depressed fruit pistil end, reniform shape of fruit, high sweetness, dark red juice, flower high length and diameter, fruit and stone weight and length and diameter, total soluble solid, low total phenolic content, high total flavonoid content and high total anthocyanin content. 1. Introduction Sour cherry, Prunus cerasus L., is known as tetraploid (2n =4x = 32), originated through natural hybridization of the large statured, cold sensi- tive sweet cherry (P. avium L., 2n = 2x = 16), and the low growing, cold tolerant ground cherry (P. fruticosa Pall., 2n = 4x = 32) (Olden and Nybom, 1968). This species originated around the Black and Caspian Seas and were cultivated in temperate and cold regions. Sour cherry spread slowly from its origin to other regions due to human and animal migrations (Pérez-Sánchez et al., 2008). Sour cherry fruit is mostly used for industrial preserves (jams, purees, juices and concentrates), while only a small por- tion is assigned to fresh consumption. Sour cherry is also used as a sweet cherry rootstock. This rootstock is more resistant to soil wetness and cold (*) Corresponding author: saliyoun66@gmail.com Citation: ALIYOUN NAZARI S., HAJILOU J., ZEINALABEDINI M., IMAMI A., 2019 - Diversity of morpho-physi- cochemical traits in Iranian sour cherry genotypes using multivariate analysis. - Adv. Hort. Sci., 33(2): 153-160 Copyright: © 2019 Aliyoun Nazari S., Hajilou J., Zeinalabedini M., Imami A. This is an open access, peer reviewed article published by Firenze University Press (http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ahs/) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Received for publication 28 June 2018 Accepted for publication 12 March 2019 AHS Advances in Horticultural Science http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Adv. Hort. Sci., 2019 33(2): 153-160 154 climate than wild sweet cherry and mahaleb forms. In 2014, the total world production of sour cherry reached 1.1 million tons, being Turkey, the Russian Federation, Poland, Ukraine, Iran and Serbia the most important producing countries (Faostat, 2014). The main sour cherry producing areas in Iran are the Ardebil, Azerbaijan, Khorasan and Alborz provinces. From the viewpoint of fruit quality, several studies for characterization of fruit traits have been accom- plished recently. Sour cherry is a valuable source of vitamins (A, B1, B2, C, E, K, and Niacin), carotenoids like beta-carotene, minerals, fiber, various sugar like fructose, glucose, maltose, antioxidant agents such as caffeic acids, cyaniding-3-O-glucosylrutinoside and flavoids (Mulabagal et al., 2009; Ferretti et al., 2010). This products has positive effects on human health (Ataie-Jafari et al., 2008; Saric et al., 2009; Kuehl et al., 2010). Analysis of flavonoids from P. cerasus identified kaempferol, quercetin, quercetin 3-O-glu- coside, and isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside (Piccolella et al., 2008). The main anthocyanins found in cherry are cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, cyanidin-3-O-glucosylrutinoside, cyanidin-3-O- sophoroside, pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside, peonidin-3- O-rutinoside and cyanidin-3-O-arabinosylrutinoside (Chaovanalikit and Wrolstad, 2004). Much of the genetic diversity is available in the wild types and natives from the center of origin. Wild species are probable gene resources for the breeding objectives such as resistance to pests and diseases, more appropriate cultivars for table and industry, extending cherry season and developing new resis- tant and dwarfing rootstocks. Therefore, it is neces- sary to characterize and preserve these species (Demirsoy and Demirsoy, 2004; Aliyoun Nazari et al., 2012). Description of the morphological characteristics is the usual methodology accepted from a legal point of view for patenting and registration of varieties. Several quantitative and qualitative evaluations showed a clear difference between sour cherry, with a more marked variability within the sour cherries group, probably due to the more intense domestica- tion processes that have taken place. Morphological characterization continues to be the first step for germplasm description and classification, and the statistical method of factor analysis is a useful tool for screening the accessions of a collection (Badenes et al., 2000; Hajilou and Fakhimrezaei, 2011). Several morphological characterization studies have been c a r r i e d o n t h e s o u r c h e r r y ( K r a h l e t a l . , 1 9 9 1 ; R o d r i g u e s e t a l . , 2 0 0 8 ; R a k o n j a c e t a l . , 2 0 1 0 ; Najafzadeh et al., 2014). As an origin of the subgenus Cerasus, Iran has a rich cherry germplasm. The area of this study is part of a large growing area in North West of Iran. Sour cherry has been cultivated in this area for many years. However, the conservation and characteriza- tion of local cultivars is important to avoid the loss of genetic variability and as a potential source of genet- ic variation for future sweet and sour cherry breeding programs. These genotypes show distinctive agro- nomic characters such as low susceptibility to fruit cracking, high levels of soluble solids and early fruit maturity. The objective of this study was to survey, identify and characterize sour cherry genotypes exist- ing in the province of East Azerbaijan - Shabestar (Iran) for their later introduction into a germplasm bank. 2. Materials and Methods Plant materials The plant material was located on the Shabestar town in west side of the East Azerbaijan province, in north-west of Iran. A total of 15 sour cherry geno- types and two cultivars, “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo”, were used in this study. Evaluation of morphological and physicochemical traits Characterization of vegetal material and fruits was based on sour cherry descriptors developed by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants - UPOV (UPOV, 2006). Thirty four morphological (16 qualitative and 18 quantitative) and eight physicochemical traits were recorded as described in Table 1 and 2. In this study, a total of 17 sour cherry genotypes, including 15 local sour cherry genotypes and two cultivars, “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo”, with three replicates for each geno- type were evaluated. The evaluation for morphologi- cal characters was based on 30 measurements of each trait. For the analysis of physicochemical traits, fruits were picked at the commercial maturity stage. All fruits were collected from a single plant, randomly from all cardinally oriented branches with different directions around the canopy. All samples were stored in a freezer at -20°C. The frozen fruit material (5 g) was homogenized with a polytron (2 min on ice) with 10 mL of extraction solution, consisting of 0.5 N HCl in methanol/Milli-Q water (80% v/v). The mixture Nazari et al. - Iranian sour cherry characterization 155 was incubated overnight at 4°C and then centrifuged for 20 min at 4°C and 20000 g. Supernatant was recovered and the volume measured. This hydroalco- holic extract was used for total phenolics, antho- cyanins, flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity assays (Cantin et al., 2009). The content of phenolic com- No. Trait 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 1 Tree vigour Very weak weak medium strong Very strong 2 Tree habit upright Semi-upright spreading drooping 3 Tree branching weak medium strong 4 Tree bud distribution along entire branch only on middle distal part of branch only on distal part of branch 5 Flower arrengment of petal free intermediate overlapping 6 Flower shape of petal circular medium obovate broad obovate 7 Flower arrangement solitary double In clusters irregular 8 Starting bloom from April 9-11 day 11-13 day 13-15 day 15-17 day 17-19 day ›19 day 9 Fruit ripening time from June 5-10 day 10-15 day 15-20 day 20-25 day 25-30 day › 30 day 10 Fruit pistil end pointed flat depressed 11 Stone shape narrow elliptic broad elliptic circular 12 Fruit shape reniform oblate circular elliptic 13 Fruit color of skin Orange red Light red Medium red Dark red Brown red blackish 14 Fruit color of flesh yellowish pink Medium red Dark red 15 Fruit sweetness low medium high 16 Color of juice Colorless Light yellow pink Medium red Dark red Table 1 - Sixteen qualitative traits and their states and codes studied of sour cherry genotypes No. Trait Unit Min Max Mean CV (%) 1 Flower diametr Mm 23.5 39.5 28.1 12.4 2 Petal length Mm 10.8 13.7 11.9 8.1 3 Petal width Mm 9.6 14.0 11.6 11.9 4 Pestil length Mm 11.4 13.6 12.4 5.1 5 Number of stamens - 31.9 37.0 34.5 4.1 6 Fruit length Mm 13.5 19.1 15.2 8.8 7 Fruit diameter Mm 13.1 22.6 17.6 10.9 8 Fruit length/ diameter -mm 0.8 1.0 0.9 6.1 9 Length of stalk Mm 41.0 54.0 46.8 7.3 10 Fruit weight Gr 12.4 54.3 21.4 55.7 11 Stone length Mm 5.6 9.5 7.1 11.7 12 Stone diameter Mm 5.5 9.0 7.4 13.2 13 Stone volume cm3 0.1 0.4 0.2 36.0 14 Stone weight Gr 2.2 3.5 3.0 13.5 15 Leaf blade length Mm 67.0 96.8 78.9 10.2 16 Leaf blade width Mm 36.8 53.4 43.4 9.8 17 Leaf blade length/ blade width - 1.7 2.0 1.8 4.0 18 Petiole length mm 13.6 18.4 16.2 8.2 19 pH - 2.0 3.6 3.3 13.9 20 Total soluble solid % 12.1 23.3 16.8 20.9 21 Vitamin C mg/100g FW 10.5 13.2 11.7 7.7 22 Titratable acidity % 1.9 2.7 2.3 9.0 23 Total phenolic content mg GAE/100 g FW 228.0 289.0 241.8 6.0 24 Total anthocyanin content mg cyanidin 3-glucoside /100 g FW 60.1 130.3 98.0 21.5 25 Antioxidant activity μg TE/ 100g FW 52.3 67.7 60.5 7.5 26 Total flavonoids content mg QE/ 100 g FW 141.8 155.8 145.8 2.5 Table 2 - The range of 26 quantity variability in Sour cherry genotypes traits, mean and coefficient of variations (CV %) pounds in methanol extracts was determined accord- ing to the Folin-Ciocalteu method (Waterhouse, 2001). Absorbance was measured at 725 nm using a spectrophotometer (UV-2100 SPECTROPHOTOME- TER). Total anthocyanin content (TAC) was deter- mined using the pH differential method (Giusti and Adv. Hort. Sci., 2019 33(2): 153-160 156 Wrolstad, 2001). The absorbances of the extracts at 510 and 700 nm were measured against a blank. TAC was calculated and expressed as mg cyanidin 3-gluco- side equivalent/100 g of FW. Total flavonoid content of each extract was determined following colorimet- ric method (Chang et al., 2002). The antioxidant capacity was measured using the DPPH method adapted from Brand-Williams et al. (1995). Titratable acidity was established by titration with 0.1 N NaOH and sugar content was measured as total soluble solids (TSS) using digital refractometer (Atago PR 100, Japan). Vitamin C content was estimated according to the titration with 2, 6-Dichlorophenolindophenol method (AOAC, 2000). Statistical analysis Statistical analysis were performed using SPSS 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). To obtain basic statistics for the entire plant material studied, maximum and minimum values, mean, and coefficients of variation (CV %) were calculated for each trait. Relationships among the species were investigated by principal component analysis (PCA). PCA was performed using SPSS statistics software. Scatter plot of the first two PCs and the cluster analysis were created by PAST statistics software (Hammer et al., 2001). 3. Results and Discussion Characteristics of cultivars Several researchers have reported the morpho- logical variation between some Prunus subgenus Cerasus genotypes such as for sweet cherry (P. a v i u m ) , s o u r c h e r r y ( P . c e r a s u s ) , m a h a l e b ( P . mahaleb), marmareh (P. incana) and tomentosa cherry (P. tomentosa) (Ganji-Moghadam and Khalighi 2007; Khadivi-Khub et al., 2008; Perez-Sanchez et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2008; Rakonjac et al., 2010; Aliyoun Nazari et al., 2012). Morphological characteristics of the studied geno- types are resumed in the Table 1 and 2. Results showed that high variation among studied genotypes was found for fruit weight (CV=55.7%) and stone vol- ume traits (CV=36%). This result is compatible with Zhang et al. (2008) report. They observed high mor- phological variation among populations, where the highest variations were in fruit weight, fruit width, and leaf width. Tree habits of the studied genotypes are different. Most of the genotypes have drooping, three have spreading and one has upright tree habit (“Erdi botermo”). TPC values ranged between 228 and 289 mg GAE/100 g FW of sour cherry genotypes, which is in good agreement with previously published results (Dragovic-Uzelac et al., 2007; Khoo et al., 2011; Alrgei et al., 2015). “Erdi botermo” had the lowest TPC among the studied genotypes and N02 had the high- est, that is consistent with the results of Papp et al. (2010) that reported the “Erdi botermo” have lowest TPC among all tested genotypes. Behrangi et al. (2015) reported that TPC is versatile on the basis of fruit type, stage of growth, farm of landing, extrac- tion method, component of TPC experiment and other factors. Therefore TPC decreased by transform- ing fruit from first stages of growth to fully ripe form that is compatible with our results. As shown in Table 2, total antioxidant capacity (AC) of sour cherries was between 52.3 and 67.7 μg TE/100 g FW. The total AC of different sour cherry cultivars showed significant difference (Blando et al., 2004; Bonerz et al., 2007; Khoo et al., 2011). The low- est TAC was found in N02 genotype (60.1 mg cyani- din 3-glucoside/100 g FW), while “Erdi botermo” had the highest TAC (130.3 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside/ 100 g FW). These differences in TAC showed that the plant growth region and the harvest period might have an impact on plant growth and metabolite con- centration (Premier, 2002). Sour cherry is one of the richest source of flavonoid (Marinova et al., 2005), that is consistent with our results. Principals component analysis Eighty percent of the variability observed was explained by seven components (Table 3). For each trait, a factor loading of more than 0.51 was consid- ered as being significant. PC1 represents mainly fruit pistil end, fruit color of skin, fruit length, fruit diame- ter, fruit weight, stone length, stone diameter, stone volume, leaf blade length, leaf blade width and total flavonoids content with significant positive effects, also tree habit, flower shape of petal, fruit ripening time with negative effects and account for 29.65% of the variance. The second principals component with 13.4% of total variance included traits of the tree branching, vitamin C, titratable acidity with negative impacts and the trait of flower diameter, petal length, petal width and stone weight with positive impacts. High absolute values of the correlations between variables related to the growth, fruit and leaf size, and PC1 or PC2 were also established by Krahl et al. (1991) and Rakonjac et al. (2010) in sour cherry, by Lacis et al. (2010) and Rakonjac et al. (2014) in sweet cherry, Aliyoun Nazari et al. (2012) in Nazari et al. - Iranian sour cherry characterization 157 marmareh (P. incana) and by Khadivi-khub et al. (2012) in Prunus subgen. Cerasus. PC3 was correlated with starting bloom, stone shape, pistil length, fruit length/diameter, pH and length of stalk. The remain- ing components explain less variability. Grouping of cultivars Hierarchical cluster analysis classified native sour cherry genotypes and “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo” cultivars in two main clusters (Fig. 1). The first major cluster is divided into two subgroups; sub- groups I consisted of Erdi botermo cultivar and and subgroup II contained Ciganymeggy and some of the genotypes, indicating that these sour cherry geno- type had high similarity to Ciganymeggy cultivar. The second cluster included the native genotypes. The Table 3 - Eigen values and cumulative variance for seven major factors obtained from principal component analysis (PCA) and traits within each factor for sour cherry genotypes Trait Factors PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4 PC5 PC6 PC7 Tree vigour -0.10 0.32 0.12 -0.62** 0.02 0.30 -0.52 Tree habit -0.87** 0.05 0.19 0.14 0.14 -0.15 0.00 Tree branching 0.14 -0.74** 0.21 0.21 0.02 -0.24 -0.08 Tree bud distribution 0.32 0.02 0.15 -0.60** -0.04 -0.29 -0.39 Flower arrangement of petal 0.32 -0.34 0.35 -0.02 -0.14 0.39 0.32 Flower shape of petal -0.90** 0.10 0.19 -0.03 -0.19 -0.20 -0.04 Flower arranement -0.36 -0.39 0.18 -0.22 0.13 0.64** -0.22 Starting bloom from April 0.02 -0.15 0.61** -0.24 -0.48 0.14 0.27 Fruit ripening time from June -0.87** 0.08 -0.10 0.15 0.20 0.02 -0.02 Fruit pistil end 0.81** -0.13 -0.02 -0.29 -0.18 -0.13 -0.04 Stone shape 0.18 0.34 0.62** 0.50 0.02 0.26 0.07 Fruit shape -0.83** 0.22 0.26 0.25 0.07 -0.05 -0.06 Fruit color of skin 0.80** -0.12 -0.27 0.10 0.34 0.11 0.09 Fruit color of flesh 0.16 -0.50 0.14 0.26 -0.55** 0.26 -0.06 Fruit sweetness 0.63** 0.02 -0.51 -0.08 0.28 0.15 0.16 Color of juice 0.90** -0.10 -0.19 0.03 0.19 0.20 0.04 Flower diameter -0.28 0.71** -0.15 0.17 0.05 0.15 0.39 Petal length -0.10 0.77** -0.14 0.32 -0.32 -0.03 0.15 Petal width -0.10 0.70** -0.12 0.14 -0.48 0.29 0.06 Pestil length -0.18 0.08 0.70** 0.06 -0.36 0.02 -0.38 Number of stamens -0.21 0.11 -0.46 0.46 0.40 -0.02 -0.19 Fruit length 0.90** 0.33 0.09 0.03 0.04 -0.11 -0.07 Fruit diameter 0.81** 0.23 -0.19 0.22 -0.13 -0.18 -0.15 Fruit length/diameter -0.15 0.01 0.52** -0.38 0.33 0.24 0.28 Length of stalk 0.01 -0.02 0.59** -0.13 0.40 0.07 0.11 Fruit weight 0.86** 0.16 0.21 -0.14 0.28 -0.19 0.07 Stone length 0.89** 0.11 0.25 0.14 -0.10 -0.03 0.09 Stone diameter 0.60** -0.20 0.47 -0.02 -0.23 -0.34 0.05 Stone volume 0.88** -0.05 0.31 0.01 -0.17 -0.16 0.09 Stone weight 0.35 0.77** 0.26 -0.03 0.13 0.08 -0.05 Leaf blade length 0.64** 0.50 0.11 -0.17 0.01 0.17 -0.28 Leaf blade width 0.64** 0.41 0.03 -0.09 0.07 0.34 -0.49 Leaf blade length/leaf blade widht 0.05 0.49 0.21 -0.23 -0.13 -0.39 0.43 Petiol length 0.38 0.14 -0.39 -0.13 -0.12 0.18 0.54** Total soluble solid 0.47 -0.17 0.31 0.45 0.45 -0.16 -0.13 pH 0.12 0.31 0.67** 0.59 0.09 0.25 0.01 Vitam C -0.05 -0.56** -0.13 -0.09 -0.15 0.07 0.19 Titratable acidity 0.21 -0.51** 0.47 0.04 0.39 0.21 0.31 Total phenol content -0.10 0.14 0.40 0.12 0.27 -0.67** -0.07 Total anthocyanin content 0.51 -0.20 -0.24 0.20 -0.59** -0.12 0.00 Antioxidant activity 0.12 0.36 0.01 -0.42 0.34 -0.08 0.28 Total flavonoids content 0.61** -0.32 -0.24 0.50 0.08 0.09 -0.25 Eigen value 12.45 5.63 4.69 3.32 2.42 1.43 1.18 Cumulative Variance (%) 29.65 43.06 54.24 62.16 69.30 75.11 80.54 158 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2019 33(2): 153-160 first cluster were characterized by a upright tree vigour, depressed fruit pistil end, reniform shape of fruit, high sweetness, dark red juice, flower high length and diameter, fruit and stone weight and length and diameter, total soluble solid, low total phenolic content, high total flavonoid content and high total anthocyanin content. Perez-Sanchez et al. (2008) suggested that dendrogram gained from mor- phological characteristics clearly showed the rela- tionships among the cultivars of sweet, sour and duke cherries. In addition, Khadivi-khub et al. (2012) reported that dendrogram obtained from morpho- logical characteristics clearly separated some Cerasus genotypes. The second cluster were characterized by small fruit and stone, drooping or spreading tree habit. Scatter plot was prepared according to the PC1 and PC2 by PAST software (Fig. 2). Starting from the positive to the negative values of PC1, these geno- types indicated a gradual decrease in fruit pistil end, fruit color of skin, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight, stone length, stone diameter, stone volume, l e a f b l a d e l e n g t h , l e a f b l a d e w i d t h a n d t o t a l flavonoids and an increase in tree habit, flower shape of petal, fruit ripening time. Starting from the nega- tive towards the positive values of PC2, the geno- types indicated a gradual increase tree branching, vit- amin C, titratable acidity and a decrease flower diam- eter, petal length, petal width and stone weight. 4. Conclusions Morphological characterization continues to be the first step for the description and classification of germplasm and statistical methods like principal components analysis (PCA) are useful tools for screening the accessions of a collection (Cantini et al., 1999; Badenes et al., 2000). PCA is used for data reduction that transforms the original variables into a limited number of uncorrelated new variables. This technique, producing a smaller set of composite vari- ables, account for much of the variance among the set of original variables and allows visualization of the differences among the individuals, identification of possible groups and finding relationships among individuals and variables (Martinez-Calvo et al., 2008). High correlations were found between some traits and principal components, which could reduce the number of traits to be studied in sour cherry germplasm. For instance, measuring the traits of PC1 (such as FW, SL, SD. SV, FPE, and FCS) is suggested for future studied in sour cherry genotypes. Dependent on the trait, a certain number of genotypes were observed that showed lower or higher values than the commercially grown cultivars involved in this study. Especially in reference to the fruit weight, a high portion of genotypes were characterized by smaller fruits than that of “Ciganymeggy” and “Erdi botermo”. In addition, native genotypes showed higher values of total phenolic content and antioxi- dant activity traits than the commercial cultivars. We conclude that this is the first study of sour cherry native genotypes, which deals with the mor- phological and physicochemical variation basis of genetic diversity. Although these accessions does not Fig. 1 - Dendrogram of 17 sour cherry genotypes based on morphological traits by PAST software. Fig. 2 - Factor scores for the first two principle components (PCs) for Sour cherry genotypes. Nazari et al. - Iranian sour cherry characterization 159 represent the whole sour cherry germplasm in Iran, considerable genetic diversity observed in both mor- phological and physicochemical characteristics indi- cate rich and valuable plant material for sour cherry improvement. References ALIYOUN NAZARI S., ZAMANI Z., FATAHI M.R., SHIEKH SOFLA H., 2012 - Morphological characterization of Prunus incana Pall. by multivariate analysis. - Plant Syst. Evol., 298: 1805-1814. ALRGEI H.O., DABIĆ D.Č., NATIĆ M.M., RAKONJAC V.S., MILOJKOVIĆ-OPSENICA D., TEŠIĆ Ž.L.J., FOTIRIĆ AKŠIĆ M.M., 2015 - Chemical profile of major taste and health-related compounds of Oblacinska sour cherry. - J. Sci. Food Agric., 96(4): 1241-1251. AOAC, 2000 - Vitamins and other nutrients (Chapter 45). - Official methods of analysis of AOAC international (17th ed.), Washington, DC, USA. ATAIE-JAFARI A., HOSSEINI S., KARIMI F., PAJOUHI M., 2008 - Effects of sour cherry juice on blood glucose and some cardiovascular risk factors improvements in dia- betic women: A pilot study. - Nutr. Food Sci., 38: 355- 360. BADENES M.L., MARTINEZ-CALVO J., LLACER G., 2000 - A n a l y s i s o f a g e r m p l a s m c o l l e c t i o n o f l o q u a t (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). - Euphytica, 114: 187-194. BEHRANGI N., GHAFOORI H., FARAHMAND Z., MOHAM- MAD KHANI E., SANATI M.H., 2015 - Comparison among cornelian cherry and Prunus cerasus according to phe- nolic content and antioxidant capacity by three various methods of extraction. - Food Nutr. Sci., 6: 1166-1173. BLANDO F., GERARDI C., NICOLETTI I., 2004 - Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) anthocyanins as ingredients for functional foods. - J. Biomed. Biotechnol., 5: 253-258. BONERZ D., WURTH K., DIETRICH H., WILL F., 2007 - Analytical characterization and the impact of ageing on anthocyanin composition and degradation in juices f r o m f i v e s o u r c h e r r y c u l t i v a r s . - E u r . F o o d R e s . Technol., 224: 355-364. BRAND-WILLIAMS W., CUVELIER M.E., BERSET C., 1995 - Use of a free radical method to evaluate antioxidant activity. - Food Sci. Tech., 28(1): 25-30. CANTIN C.M., MORENO M.A., GOGORCENA Y., 2009 - Evaluation of the antioxidant capacity, phenolic com- pounds, and vitamin C content of different peach and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] breeding proge- nies. - J. Agric. Food Chem., 57: 4586-4592. CANTINI C., CIMATO A., SANI G., 1999 - Morphological evaluation of olive germplasm present in Tuscany region. - Euphytica, 109: 173-181. CHANG C., YANG M., WEN H., CHERN J., 2002 - Estimation of total flavonoid content in propolis by two comple- mentary colorimetric methods. - J. Food Drug Anal., 10: 178-182. CHAOVANALIKIT A., WROLSTAD R.E., 2004 - Total antho- cyanins and total phenolics of fresh and processed cherries and their antioxidant properties. - J. Food Sci., 69: 67-72. DEMIRSOY H., DEMIRSOY L., 2004 - A study on the relation- ships between some fruit characteristics in cherries. - Fruits, 59: 219-223. DRAGOVIC-UZELAC V., LEVAJ B., BURSAC D., PEDISIC S., RADOJCIC I., BIŠKO A., 2007 - Total phenolics and antioxidant capacity assays of selected fruits. - Agric. Conspec. Sci., 72: 279-284. FAO, 2014 - FAOSTAT. FAO statistical database. - FAO, Rome, Italy. FERRETTI G., BACCHETTI T., BELLEGGIA A., NERI D., 2010 - Cherry antioxidants: from farm to table. - Molecules, 15: 6993-7005. GANJI-MOGHADAM E., KHALIGHI A., 2007 - Relationship between vigor of Iranian Prunus mahaleb L. selected dwarf rootstocks and some morphological characters. - Sci. Hortic., 111: 209-212. GIUSTI M.M., WROLSTAD R.E., 2001 - Anthocyanins char- acterization and measurement of anthocyanins by UV- visible spectroscopy, pp. F1.1.1-F1.1.13. - In: WROL- STAD R.E. (ed.). Current protocols in food analytical chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, New York , USA. HAJILOU J., FAKHIMREZAEI S., 2011 - Evaluation of fruit physicochemical properties in some peach cultivars. - Res. Plant. Biol., 1(5): 16-21. HAMMER Ø., HARPER D., RYAN P.D., 2001 - PAST: paleon- tological statistics software package for education and data analysis. - Palaeontol. Electronica, 4(1): 1-9. K H A D I V I - K H U B A . , Z A M A N I Z . , B O U Z A R I N . , 2 0 0 8 - Evaluation of genetic diversity in some Iranian and for- eign sweet cherry cultivars by using RAPD molecular markers and morphological traits. - Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol., 49: 188-196. K H A D I V I - K H U B A . , Z A M A N I Z . , F A T A H I M . R . , 2 0 1 2 - M u l t i v a r i a t e a n a l y s i s o f P r u n u s s u b g e n . c e r a s u s germplasm in Iran using morphological variables. - Genet. Resour. Crop. Evol., 59(5): 909-926. KHOO G.M., CLAUSEN M.R., PEDERSEN B.H., LARSEN E., 2011 - Bioactivity and total phenolic content of 34 sour cherry cultivars. - J. Food Comp. Anal., 24: 772-776. K R A H L K . H . , L A N S A R I A . , I E Z Z O N I A . F . , 1 9 9 1 - Morphological variation within a sour cherry collection. - Euphytica, 52: 47-55. KUEHL K.S., PERRIER E.T., ELLIOT D.L., CHESNUTT J.C., 2010 - Research article efficacy of tart cherry juice in reduc- ing muscle pain during running: a randomized con- trolled trial. - J. Int. Soc. Sports Nutr., 7: 17. LACIS G., TRAJKOVSKI V., RASHAL I., 2010 - Phenotypical variability and genetic diversity within accessions of the S w e d i s h S o u r c h e r r y ( P r u n u s c e r a s u s L . ) g e n e t i c resources collection. - Biologija, 56: 1-8. MARINOVA D., RIBAROVA F., ATANASSOVA M., 2005 - Total phenolics and total flavonoids in bulgarian fruits Adv. Hort. Sci., 2019 33(2): 153-160 160 and vegetables. - J. Univ. Chem. Technol. Metallurgy, 40(3): 255-260. MARTINEZ-CALVO J., GISBERT A.D., ALAMAR M.C., HER- NANDORENA R., ROMERO C., LLACER G., BADENES M.L., 2008 - Study of a germplasm collection of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) by multivariate analysis. - Genet. Resourc. Crop. Evol., 55: 695-703. MULABAGAL V., LANG G.A., DEWITT D.L., DALAVOY S.S., NAIR M.G., 2009 - Anthocyanin content, lipid peroxida- tion and cyclooxygenase enzyme inhibitory activities of sweet and sour cherries. - J. Agric. Food Chem., 57: 1239-1246. NAJAFZADEH R., ARZAN K., BOUZARI N., 2014 - Assessment of morphological and pomological variation of some selected Iranian sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) geno- types. - Seed Plant Improv. J., 30(2): 243-267. OLDEN E.J., NYBOM N., 1968 - On the origin of Prunus cerasus L. - Hereditas, 59: 327-345. PAPP N., SZILVÁSSY B., ABRANKÓ L., SZABÓ T., PFEIFFER P., SZABÓ Z., NYÉKI J., ERCISLI S., STEFANOVITS BÁNYAI É., HEGEDŰS A., 2010 - Main quality attributes and antiox- idants in Hungarian sour cherries: identification of genotypes with enhanced functional properties. - J. Food Sci. Technol., 45: 395-402. PÉREZ-SÁNCHEZ R., GÓMEZ-SÁNCHEZ M.A., MORALES- CORTS R., 2008 - Agromorphological characterization of traditional Spanish sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) and duke cherry (Prunus × gondouinii Rehd.) cultivars. - Span. J. Agric. Res., 6: 42-55. PICCOLELLA S., FIORENTINO A., PACIFICO S., D’ABROSCA B., UZZO P. MONACO P., 2008 - Antioxidant properties of sour cherries (Prunus cerasus L.): role of colorless phytochemicals from the methanolic extract of ripe fruits. - J. Agric. Food. Chem., 56: 1928-1935. PREMIER R., 2002 - Phytochemical composition: a para- digm shift for food-health considerations. - Asia Pac. J. Clin. Nutr., 11(S.6): S197-S201. RAKONJAC V., FOTIRIC AKSIC M., NIKOLIC D., MILATOVIC D., COLIC S., 2010 - Morphological characterization of ‘Oblacinska’ sour cherry by multivariate analysis. - Sci. Hortic., 125: 679-684. RAKONJAC V., MRATINIĆ E., JOVKOVIĆ R., FOTIRIĆ AKŠIĆ M., 2014 - Analysis of morphological variability in wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) genetic resources from Central Serbia. - J. Agr. Sci. Tech., 16: 151-162. RODRIGUES L.C., MORALES M.R., FERNANDES A.J.B., ORTIZ J.M., 2008 - Morphological characterization of sweet and sour cherry cultivars in a germplasm bank at Portugal. - Genet. Resour. Crop. Evol., 55: 593-601. SARIC A., SOBOCANEC S., BALOG T., KUCIC B., SVERKO V., DRAGANOVI´C-UZELAC V., LEVAJ B., COSIC Z., MACAK- SAFRANKO Z, MAROTTI T., 2009 - Improved antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential in mice consuming sour cherry juice (Prunus cerasus cv Maraska). - Plant Food. Hum. Nutr., 64: 231-237. UPOV, 2006 - Guidelines for the conduct of tests for distinct- ness, homogeneity and stability of the sour and duke cherry. - International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 26. WATERHOUSE A.L., 2001 - Determination of total pheno- lics, pp. I1.1.1-I1.1.18. - In: WROLSTAD R.E. (ed.) Current protocols in food analytical chemistry. John Wiley & Sons, New York, USA. ZHANG Q., YAN G., DAI H., ZHANG X., LI C., ZHANG Z., 2008 - Characterization of tomentosa cherry (Prunus tomen- tosa Thunb.) genotypes using SSR markers and morpho- logical traits. - Sci. Hortic., 118: 39-47.