Preliminary study on pomological characteristics of different mulberry accessions in Istria, Croatia: toward their conservation

Mulberry is a neglected and underutilized fruit species which fruits are of very high nutritional value. In Croatia, the ones that dominate are white (Morus alba L.) and black (Morus nigra L.) mulberries, and while there are no planted orchards, individual trees are growing in private gardens or tree alleys. The aim of this preliminary study was to register the best quality mulberry accessions in the Istria County based on their pomological characteristics. The research was focused on size of the fruit and resistance to diseases and pests. Additionally, the phenophase development of selected trees was observed. Five white (BD1, BD2, BD3, BD4 and BD5) and seven black (CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, CD5, CD6 and CD7) accessions were selected. Based on the measurements performed, it was found that the average fruit weight varied from 1.35 g for CD3 to 3.76 g for CD7 within black accessions and from 1.42 g for BD2 to 2.05 g for BD5 within white accessions. The shortest pedicel was observed for accessions CD2 and BD3 (5.00 and 4.72 mm, respectively) and the longest ones for CD4 and BD5 (12.98 and 10.72 mm, respectively). The earliest accessions to ripe were CD5, CD6, CD7 and BD4, while all the others were fully ripened around 7 days later. Further studies, mainly genetic and nutritional analyses, should be performed toward to conservation of mulberry accessions biodiversity in Croatia.