Proceeding Book ICAFE, 25 September 2015, Korçë Albania ISBN: 978-9928-146-41-0

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VARIACIONI MORFOLOGJIK I BORONICËS (VACCINIUM MYRTILLUS L.) NË

RRETHIN E PUKËS

MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF BILBERRY PLANT (VACCINIUM

MYRTILLUS L.) IN PUKA REGION MSc. AGIM PEPKOLAJ, Prof. As. Dr. NDOC FASLIA, Prof. As. Dr. BELUL GIXHARI

Plant Production Department

Agricultural University of Tirana

Address: Tirana/ALBANIA

E-mail:agimpepkolaj@gmail.com

Abstract

Vaccinium myrtillus L. is one of the most important medical plant found as wild plant in

Albania forest and pastures known also as secondary forest product. Until now, there is

unknown any cultivation practice in the country due to the luck of information and researches

related to its distribution, genetic diversity, chemical properties and economical potential.

This study aimed to evaluate the morphological variation of bilberry plant collected in

different locations of Puka region. The collections were carried out at three different area of

bilberry natural populations at Livadh Hamzi mountain, Iballa region and Krrabi (above

Sapac) mountain. The collection areas represent different altitudes and site exposures. There

were assessed thirteen quantitative/qualitative (plant height, branch number, steam diameter,

number of leafs per steam, leaf length, leaf width, leaf border, plant habitat, leaf form, border

leafs, fruit length and width, number of seeds per fruit, and fruit colour) traits.

Analysis of variance showed presence of significant differences at the P0.05 of the

probability between bilberry populations related to quantitative traits. The study is essential

for an understanding of morphological diversity among bilberry population in Puka district

which a good base for further studies for improvement of plant cultivation of the plant in the

future.

Key words: Morphological diversity, plant population, morphological traits, cluster analysis,

bilberry

Introduction

Bilberry is a perennial subshrub plant, which belongs to the plant kingdom, Ericaceae family,

genius Vaccinium and Vaccinium myrtillus L. specie. (USDA Classification). Bilberry plant

is mainly distributed in the countries like Rumania, Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, France,

Germany, Austria and Sweden (Roy Upton 2001, Web Flora Europea).

Anthocyanin is pigment, which gives to the berry fruit the red color (A. Baj 1983) which is

one of the components used for quality control of the bilberry (Anja K et al., 2013). The

anthocyanin depends from the place and collection time (Deividas Burdulis et al., 2007). The

anthocyanin concentration is increased with increasing latitude (Andreas Akerstrom and

Akersrom et al, 2010). Comparing to other berry cultivars, bilberry (wild fruits) contains the

largest amount of anthocyanin (Roy Upton 2001), and higher antioxidant activity compare to

other cultivated blueberry cultivars (Ozlem et al., 2015, Burdulis et al., 2009).

Vaccinium myrtillus, has been used for different purposes such as medicinal and nutritional.

From different studies were found that the bilberry have a positive effects on cardiovascular

system and risk prevention against vascular diseases (Arpita Basum 2010). The leaf

decoction of bilberry has been proven to have also positive effect on diabetes type 2

(Fernanda M. Ferreira et al 2010). Plant leafs has been used for medicinal purposes (Roy

Upton 2001).

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In Albania the collected bilberry fruits are used for fresh consumption because there is no

manufacturing companies processing the bilberry fruits in the country. Wild bilberry fruits

are collected by farmers and then sold to the collectors who after drying or a simple

processing, export them to the neighboring countries such as Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia and

Italy etc. Harvesting of bilberry fruits in the region is not industrialized and the traditional

methods are used for harvesting by using the special comp, due to the fact that the land were

bilberry is naturally grown has no owner and is difficult to control the collection because the

various of persons go there for collection during the ripening period which cause the negative

trend on the abundance of the specie in the region.

There are not so many studies done so far for the exploration of Vaccinium sp in the regions

of Puka because of difficult terrain to explore where this plant is naturally grown.

Materials and Methods We collected plant material during July-August 2014 manually and we prepared the

herbarium of the collected samples in different sites Puka region. The collected plant

materials were naturally dried in darkness at the ambient temperature. In Puka region we

identified three natural population as described in the Tab no 1. were the plant abundance was

from 1-3 point scale (Westhoff V et al 2014): (1 - 10-20 %, 2- 25-40 %, 3- 45-60 %, 4- 65-

80 %, 5- 85-100 %). From each population were randomly collected two samples of bilberry

plant material (30 plants per sample) (Fig 1).

Figure 1: Bilberry collecting site in Puka region

Source: DivaGis and Google earth photo

Table 1: Collecting site

Population Id Sample Elevation

P1M1 Krrab (Mbi Sapac) 1039

P1M2 Krrab (Mbi Sapac) 1240

P2M1 Livadh Hamzi (Terbun) 1156

P2M2 Livadh Hamzi (Terbun) 1416

P3M1 Shale e Madhe/Iballe 1430

P3M2 Shale e Madhe/Iballe 1143

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Morphologic variation is expressed in two levels such as quantitative and qualitative (Salillari

A et al 2007). In order to understand the phenotypic level of diversity we have assessed

therteen quantitative/quantitative traits such plant height, branch number, steam diameter,

number of leafs per steam, leaf length, leaf width, plant habitat, leaf form and border leafs,

fruit length and width, number of seeds per fruit and fruit color.

The results evaluations were done using SPSS software (Tukey HSD).

Results and Discussions

The aim of our study was to evaluate the morphological diversity of bilberry plant collected

in Puka region, using the special descriptors designed for that purpose. In the table no 2 are

presented the analyses of variance for all bilberry traits analyzed for the three bilberry

populations.

Table 2: Analysis of variance

Quantitative traits Sum of

Squares df

Mean

Square F Sig.

Plant height (cm)

Between

Groups 2223.325 2 1111.663 34.607 .000

Within

Groups 5685.713 177 32.123

Total 7909.038 179

Branch number

Between

Groups 36.362 2 18.181 3.229 .042

Within

Groups 996.565 177 5.630

Total 1032.927 179

Steam diameter

(cm)

Between

Groups .108 2 .054 7.608 .001

Within

Groups 1.262 177 .007

Total 1.370 179

Number of leafs per

steam

Between

Groups .633 2 .317 .102 .903

Within

Groups 547.117 177 3.091

Total 547.750 179

Leaf length (cm)

Between

Groups 1.072 2 .536 10.341 .000

Within

Groups 9.177 177 .052

Total 10.250 179

Leaf width (cm)

Between

Groups .616 2 .308 13.917 .000

Within

Groups 3.920 177 .022

Total 4.537 179

Fruit length (cm)

Between

Groups .268 2 .134 26.105 .000

Within

Groups .907 177 .005

Total 1.175 179

Fruit width and

(cm)

Between

Groups .134 2 .067 6.821 .001

Proceeding Book ICAFE, 25 September 2015, Korçë Albania ISBN: 978-9928-146-41-0

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Within

Groups 1.735 177 .010

Total 1.869 179

Number of seeds

per fruit

Between

Groups 1299.511 2 649.756 11.478 .000

Within

Groups 10020.150 177 56.611

Total 11319.661 179

Analysis of variance shows significant differences among populations for the traits analyzed.

In order to understand if all populations changes from each other we have used Tukey HSD

test to analyze if the changes are also for the traits analyzed.

In this regard we can see differences among populations one (Krrab) with population two

(Livadh hamzi) for plant high trait (mean diff=-3.225, sig=.006<0.05) and also for other

traits.

We did the correlation coefficient were its statistically proven that plant high have positive

connection with branch number of the plant (r=0.181, sig =.015<0.05), number of leafs per

steam (r=.497**

, sig =.000<0.05), leaf length, leaf width and number of seeds per fruit.

As for qualitative traits resulted that the plant habits (Tab 3) are upright, spreading and semi

spreading. The leaf form (tab 4) for the assessed populations resulted to be ovate, elliptic

form. Border leaf resulted with serrate margins and 100 % of fruits remain with deep blue

color.

Table 3: Plant habits

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Upright 31 17.2 17.2

Semi spreading 134 74.4 74.4

Spreading 15 8.3 8.3

Total 180 100.0 100.0

Table 4: Leaf form

This study contributed to better understanding of morphological characteristics of bilberry

plants and the findings will serve to understand not only the distribution of the plant in the

region but also to clarify the morphological features of the plant. The study is essential for an

understanding of morphological diversity among bilberry population in Puka district which a

good base for further studies for improvement of plant cultivation of the plant in the future

Frequen

cy

Percent Valid

Percent

Ovate 30 16.7 16.7

Elliptic 96 53.3 53.3

Oval 54 30.0 30.0

Total 180 100.0 100.0

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where from the present study was shown that the differences exist not only at population

level but also at the sample level.

The distribution in the natural population of Vaccinium sp is reduced because of uncontrolled

fire. This may have caused the loss of the diversity of Vaccinium sp population in Puka

region (Terbun mountain)

Conclusions

The main result of our study is that morphological diversity was present not only on the

population level but also on the sample level. The diversity was statistically proven.

The morphologic diversity of bilberry plant may be effected the changes in temperature, day

length, exposure to the sun and soil properties. These factors affect the morphology of the

plant and chemical composition of the fruits (Andreas Akerstrom 2010). The data of our

study shows the differences in plant height regarding the elevation of the collected samples

and the exposure in sunny openings. The plants collected in the shadows of the trees seems to

be slightly higher compare to the plants collected in the places exposure to the sun.

As we have seen from carried out field mission it has happened a loss of the habitat because

of the uncontrolled harvesting and fire, which may cause to this species the risk of extinction.

Genetic erosion, fire, and human disturbance are factors that have caused the loss of genetic

diversity in the studied region. It was obvious that the covered area the diversity is going to

be reduced in the future because of a controlled fire. Collecting and saving the best accession

in origin to have natural plants that farmer may use for propagation may make this plant very

important in economic terms and genetic diversity in general.

References

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quantitative evaluation of Vaccinium myrtillus anthocyanins by high-resolution gas

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9. Fernanda M. Ferreira, Francisco P. Peixoto, Elsa Nunes, Cristina Sena, Raquel Seiça

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Pyblished by Bucurest University.