engleski

Morphological and micromorphological characteristics of carob seeds (Ceratonia siliqua L.) of “Komiža” ecotype, population of Drvenik Mali Island

Carob seeds (Ceratonia siliqua L., Fabaceae) are very important source of galactomannan oligosaccharide. However, it was believed that the weight of individual carob seed is constant and weighs about 200 mg each. So, that was the reason why the carob seeds were used as a measure for carat in the past. Because of hardness of carob seeds and consequently specific demands for their processing, numerous researches of their morphological and micromorphological characteristics were carried out. Within research project TEUCLIC(“Taxonomy ecology and utilization of carob tree and bay laurel in Croatia, financed by Croatian Foundation for Science) the total of 1309 individual carob seeds, separated from the carob pods collected from different carob trees on the Island of Drvenik Mali, were investigated during the first research year. The average weight of individual seed is 191 mg(SD=0.044, SEM=0.0012). Our results of micro morphological studies showed the very high share of mechanical tissue both in pods and seeds. However, achieved results of morphological and micro morphological characteristics of carob seeds correspond with the results of previous researchers who investigated the seed morphology of carob tree populations in Mediterranean countries.

carob tree ; Ceratonia siliqua L. ; carob seeds ; morphological and micropmorphological characteristics

nije evidentirano