Some Leaf Characteristics are Better Morphometric Discriminators for Chestnut Genotypes

This study was carried out in order to determine the leave characteristics of some chestnut genotypes in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey and also to determine whether the leaf morphometric characteristics could be used for differentiation of genotypes. In this study, seven chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) genotypes (SA۵-۱, SE ۳-۱۲, SE ۲۱-۲, SE ۲۱-۹, ۵۵۲-۸, ۵۵۶-۷ and ۵۵۶-۸) and one cultivar (Sariaslama) were used. Some leaf parameters such as lamina length, lamina width, leaf length, leaf area, petiole length, teeth width, teeth length, stomatal density, stomata width, stomata length, lamina width/lamina length, lamina width/leaf length, petiole length/lamina length, stomatal index, distance between the lateral veins and teeth width/teeth length were measured. Most of the chestnut genotypes could be differentiated easily by using leaf morphometric characteristics. The lamina width, lamina length, leaf length, distance between the lateral veins, leaf area, stomata width, stomata length and the ratios of teeth width/teeth length, lamina width/lamina length and lamina width/leaf length were better discriminators for chestnut genotypes.