Agrobiological properties and biologically active substances of Viburnus Opulus L. as affected by genotype

Abstract

Introduction. Convincing scientific evidence corroborate that fruits are beneficial to health and afford protection against numerous chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases. European cranberry bush (Viburnum opulus L.) is a native plant in Lithuania which is widely used in traditional and folk medicine [2]. Flowers, bark and leaves are an important medicinal raw because of the large amounts of tannic substances, carotenoids, isovalerianic acid, saponines, and glycosides [1, 2, 3, 5]. Fruits of V. opulus are characteristic of different amounts of pectins, carotenoids, flavonols, tocopherols, and different polysaccharides [3]. The seeds contain up 21% of fatty oil [1, 4]. Due to the specific chemical composition, Viburnum L. species are valuable for food supplementing dietary production, their fruits can be used in food industry for production of the juices, jelly, sweetmeat, and marmalade [6]. Moreover, fruits of this species could be a valuable dietary product as well as a source for the production of food supplements. Therefore, investigation of fruit properties and biochemical components is a prerequisite for selection of most valuable clones and cultivars.