engleski

Comparison of Morphological Characteristics of Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) Pods and Seeds of Populations Collected from Two Distant Croatian Islands: Drvenik Mali and Mali Lošinj

It is well-known that carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is not overspread in Croatian north Adriatic islands and coast. It is hardly possible to fi nd spontaneous (not planted) trees of Ceratonia siliqua northern from the island of Dugi Otok and Zadar coast. During the fi rst investigated year of research project TEUCLIC fi nanced by Croatian Foundation for Science, we found the northernmost habitat of carob tree on the island of Mali Lošinj. Th is paper deals with the results of morphometric analysis of carob tree pods and seeds of Mali Lošinj population, compared with the same analysis of carob tree population of Drvenik Mali, island placed in middle-Dalmatian archipelago, in order to fi nd the possible diff erences of most important morphological traits between these two relatively distant populations. Aft er provided morphometric research the diff erences in length and thickness of carob pods between these two populations were not signifi cant. However, the pods of carob trees of Mali Lošinj population had signifi cantly smaller weight and smaller number of seeds per pod in the comparison with Drvenik Mali population. Also, width of carob pods of Mali Lošinj population was signifi cantly smaller in the comparison with Drvanik Mali population, as well as weight and average number of seeds per pod. The carob seeds of Drvenik Mali population are signifi cantly longer, wider and heavier in the comparison with the Mali Lošinj population, in spite of the fact that the seeds of population of Mali Lošinj were signifi cantly thicker in the comparison with seeds of Drvenik Mali population. Th e diff erences between these morphometric traits cannot be explained by environmental conditions. Diff erences in morphometric traits of carob pods and seeds between these two populations are primarily caused by genetic factors, which have to be confi rmed by the analysis of genomic DNA isolated from the leaves.

carob tree ; Ceratonia siliqua ; morphometric traits ; environmental conditions ; genetic factors

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