The pomological characteristics and values for public health of Crataegus tanacetifolia

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the pomological characteristics and allometric relationships of Crataegus tanacetifolia, an endemic plant species in Türkiye, as well as to assess its significance for public health. Fruit samples collected from its natural habitat were subjected (Mihalıççık district of Eskişehir province, 1330-1350m) to pomological measurements. Subsequently, pomological characteristics were correlated with allometric relationships. The following pomological parameters were observed for Crataegus tanacetifolia: fruit length was 15.30±1.70mm, width was 19.51±2.30mm, thickness was 18.85±2.30mm, weight was 3.34±0.99g, flesh weight was 2.73±0.901g, arithmetic mean diameter was 17.89±2.04mm, geometric mean diameter was 17.78±2.02mm, sphericity index was 116.26±4.79%, surface area was 1005.55±223.28mm2, appearance ratio was 0.79±0.05, seed ratio was 0.19±0.04, peduncle length was 3.26±0.24mm, flesh hardness was 14.02±1.61kg/cm2, and fruit color (L*a*b) was 71.54±0.92*9.34±1.82*60.62±3.11. The fruit color ranged from light yellow to light pink, with green being the dominant color in unripe fruits. The seed length was 7.20±0.51 mm, width was 4.14±0.37mm, thickness was 5.42±0.43mm, weight was 0.12±0.02g, volume was 53.73±8.48mm3, and surface area was 80.09±9.29. There was a high relationship between fruit surface area and allometric relationships, with R²=0.9603 and R²=0.8729 confidence interval. The allometric relationships between seed ratio and fruit sizes were in the range of R²=0.3984 and R²=0.5045. In this study, it was determined that Crataegus tanacetifolia is important for public health, its fruits are used as food.