Physical and phytochemical profile of wild and domesticated carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) genotypes

One wild and two domesticated (ʹEtliʹ and ʹSisamʹ) carob genotypes grown in Antalya, Turkey were assessed for their physical and chemical properties in a comparative study. In most physical pod traits, the domesticated genotypes had higher values than those found in the wild genotype. On the other hand, physical seed traits such as average number of seed and seed to husk ratio had higher values in the wild genotype compared with the domesticated genotypes. Soluble solid content and the content of fructose, glucose and sucrose of the domesticated genotypes were higher than those found in the wild genotype. The levels of sucrose were found to be the highest compared with all the other sugars, in all genotypes. The N and K concentrations in the husk of the wild genotype were higher than that found in domesticated genotypes. The content of macro and micro nutrients in the seeds were quite similar among all the genotypes. The most abundant fatty acids were the methyl-esters of oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2n6), palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0). The husk of the wild genotype contained higher concentrations of mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids compared with that of the domesticated genotypes. Fat concentration and fatty acid composition are the first reported in this paper. Our results suggest that ʹEtliʹ and ʹSisamʹ are advantageous over the wild type regarding pod properties, while the wild genotype was found to be better regarding seed properties.