Study On The Seed Morphological Characteristics And Nutrient Content Of Deciduous Oak In The Northern China

Deciduous oaks are main species in forests among temperate and warm temperate zone.They are main dominant species in boreal forests, too. Oak resource is very abundant, andecological adaptability of the oaks are very good. The economic and ecological value of theoaks are very important. In this study,10species of oak in Beijing Botanical Garden Instituteof Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences were selected. The morphological indices (length,width, diameter, volume, diameter of hilum, peridium length), nutrition contents (water,soluble saccharide, amylum, soluble protein) and mineral content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg）of the oakseeds were measured. The indices differences and correlations between species were analysedby method of Oneway ANOVA, correlation analysis, principal component analysis andclustering analysis. The following conclusions were drawn:(1) The ranges of seed length, width, and volume of all species are17.23mm-27.03mm,11.39mm-17.49mm and1.642cm3-4.966cm3, respectively; the mean value of the hundredseed weight is155.394g-463.266g. The Oneway ANOVA results show that the differencesbetween seed length, diameter, volume, diameter of hilum, peridium length, ratio of length towidth, ratio of peridium length to seed length, and hundered seeds weight are obviously.(2) Correlation analysis results show that the correlaton between morphological indicesof the oak seeds are complex, and the means of these indices are repeated and redudance.Hundered seed weight, peridiumlength, ratio of length to width extracted by principalcommponent analysis could cover most differences among the oak seeds. Then8morphological indeces were classed to3kinds: hundered seeds weigth, peridium length, andthe seed shape (ratio of length to diameter). According to the clustering analysis results, threefactors, hundered seeds weigth, peridium length, and ratio of length to diameter, wererecommended to be used to speed sort for the different deciduous oak.(3) Amylum, soluble saccharide, and soluble protein were three main components of theoak seed nutrition. Oneway ANOVA results show that the differences of the amylum contentamong oak seeds are not obviously, but the differences of the soluble saccharide and soluble protein are obviously (P<0.01). The contents of the soluble saccharide and soluble protein aremore than8.549%. The amylum content of the oak seed,33.159%, is4times large than thosetwo matter content. There are obviously differences in mineral contents among oaks seeds.The differences of N content, Ca content and Mg content are obviously at P<0.01level, and Pcontent and K content are obviously at P<0.05level.(4) Correlation analysis results show that the correlations between morphological indicesand nutrition content are very complex, and the correlations between the three indicesextracted by principal commponent analysis and the nutrit-ion content are obviously, sonutrition contents can be represented by these three indices. The clustering analysis resultssuggested that these three indices, hundered seeds weight, ratio of length to width, andperidium length, could be used to speed distinguish the qualitative of deciduous oak seeds.