Important chemical and physical traits and variation in these traits in 'tombul' hazelnut cultivar at different elevations

This study was conducted on ‘Tombul’ hazelnut growing at four elevations (0-50 m, 100-150 m, 200-250 m and 300-350 m) in Persembe (Ordu/ Northern Turkey) province in 1999 and 2000 years. Sixteen traits (oil, protein and ash contents as chemical; nut weight, nut size, shell thickness, kernel weight, kernel size, percent kernel, internal cavity, shriveled kernels, good kernels as physical; pH, organic matter, phosphorus and potassium in soil) were examined at each elevation. Interrelationships among important soil, nut and kernel characteristics were examined. There were significant correlation and interrelationships among the traits. The correlation between oil-nut size, oil- protein positively; protein-kernel size, protein- shriveled kernel negatively; organic matter- shell thickness, organic matter-good kernel negatively; pH- shell thickness, pH-good kernel negatively; good kernel-shell thickness positively; shriveled kernel-kernel weight, shriveled kernel-percent kernel negatively; internal cavity-nut weight positively and internal cavity-nut size negatively; percent kernel-kernel weight, percent kernel-kernel size positively; kernel size-kernel weight positively, and kernel weight-nut weight positively were significant. Significant differences among elevations were observed for shell thickness, ash content in kernel, and pH value in soil. The highest coefficients of variation were observed for phosphorus, shriveled kernels, potassium, internal cavity and organic matter, respectively