Variations in morphological and biochemical characters of Seabuckthorn ( Hippophae salicifolia D . Don ) populations growing in Harsil area of Garhwal Himalaya in India

The present investigation was carried out to study the variation in morphological and biochemical characters of different seabuckthorn (Hippophae salicifolia) populations growing naturally in and around Harsil and Gangotri area of Uttarkashi district of Uttaranchal, India. Plants showed varied morphology from shrub to tree, fruit shape from round to ovate and fruit colour from greenish-yellow to yellow-orange. Number of leaves per 10 cm running length of branch ranged from 10.83 to 29.83 and leaf area from 2.28 to 9.35 cm. Weight of 100 fruits varied from 11.53 to 18.87g, number of fruits per 10 cm fruiting branch ranged from 10.69 to 99.40 and fruit yield of same length of branch from 1.34 to 15.98 g. Acidity in juice calculated as citric acid varied between 4.89 to 7.93 per cent and total soluble solids ranged between 6.93 to 10.0 oB. Higher juice percentage was observed in this species as compared to H. rhamnoides and the range was between 70.70 to 79.23 per cent. Based on the study, it is concluded that wide variations exists in different populations of H. salicifolia growing in this region. Intensive survey is required for the selection of some promising forms of H. salicifolia in the region and other seabuckthorn growing regions of Garhwal Himalaya.


INTRODUCTION
Seabuckthorn (Hippophae spp) a member of family Elaeagnaceae is multipurpose, spinscent, non-leguminous nitrogen fixing, shrub or tree.It is widely distributed in higher latitude and altitudes of temperate zone of Asia and Europe.In India, it is distributed in Leh and Kargil districts of Jammu and Kashmir, dry temperate regions of Lahaul and Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh and Garhwal and Kumoan division of Uttaranchal.In Uttaranchal, out of two endemic species of seabuckthorn, H. Salicifolia D. Don is widely distributed species.This species is reported to exist in abundance in Garhwal Himalayas viz.Gangotri, Harsil, Sukhi, Badrinath area, Yamunotri, Gaurikund and Harki-dun etc. Due to its wider adaptability, drought resistance, strong root system and capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen through Frankia symbiosis, the plant has been widely planted in China to control soil erosion and reclama-*Corresponding author tion of degraded lands (Rongsen, 1992).The leaves, berries and seeds of seabuckthorn have high nutritional and medicinal value and are excellent source of vitamins C, B 1 , B 2 , E, F, K, P, pro-vitamin A, sugars and organic acids.High content of vitamin C and E and other bioactive substances makes it a suitable species for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industry.
In view of the great economic and ecological potential of the species, a number of studies have been conducted in different regions to assess the morphological and biochemical variations in natural growing populations of seabuckthorn in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir (Khosla et al., 1994;Singh 1994;Singh and Dogra 1995;Dwivedi et al., 2000;Singh andSingh 2004 andSankhyan et al., 2004).However, no such studies were conducted to assess the variation pattern in natural occurring populations of seabuckthorn of Garhwal Himalayas.The present study therefore, was carried to determine the variations in morphological and biochemical characters of natural populations of seabuckthorn growing in Harsil and Gangotri area of Uttarkashi district of Uttaranchal located in Garhwal Himalayas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study is an outcome of the survey of naturally growing seabuckthorn populations in Gangotri-Harsil area (2000-3000 m amsl) of district Uttarkashi, a dry temperate region of Garhwal Himalayas.The meteorological data recorded at Harsil revealed that the area received an average annual precipitation of 910 mm, minimum average temperature of the coldest month (January) -3.2 °C; maximum average temperature of the hottest month (June) was 20.6 °C and relative humidity ranges from 23-100 percent.During the last week of September, 2004, 19 populations were selected for the study from 16 different locations on the basis of observable morphological traits.Details of sampling sites are presented in Table 1.The observations were recorded on 15 plants of each population dividing them into 3 replications.The observations included all the morphological traits i.e., number of leaves per 10 cm running branch length, leaf area (cm 2 ), fruit length (mm), fruit diameter (mm), 100 fruit weight (g) and number of fruit and fruit yield (g) per 10 cm of fruiting branch.Harvested fruits were brought to the laboratory for analysis of biochemical and quality characters.

Study sites
The study sites lie between 30° 56' and 30° 44'N latitude and 78° 19' and 79° 02' E longitude in Uttaranchal State.The river Ganga which is known as Bhagirathi in the region flows through the district and all the study sites were located either on side of this river or along highway hill slopes.Being a dry temperate zone, most of precipitation is in the form of snow during winters.Scanty rainfall also occurs during rainy season.All the study sites were under the thick blanket of snow from November to May.The soil of the region is sandy loam, mixed with pebbles and gravels and depth varies from few centimetres to about one meter.The important trees and shrub species were found to be associated with Hippophae salicifolia in the study area were Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, Betula utlis, Alnus nepalensis, Abies pindrow, Juniperus macropoda, Prinsepia utilis, Rosa webbiana and Cotoneaster spp.

Morphological characteristics
The wide spectrums of variations were observed for different characters studied during the survey.The physiognomic form of plants varied from shrubs to trees up to 6 m in height and 50 cm in diameter at breast height (Table 1).Large tree form of plants makes the species a valuable material for timber and fuelwood in these areas.The fruit shapes were generally round but in some populations ovate fruits were also observed (Table 2).The colour of fruits reported to be pale green in case of H. salicifolia but it changes with the ripening of fruit (Sankhayan et al., 2004).However, the colour of fruits in the study area varied from greenish-yellow to orange-yellow.As regards to variations in morphological characters, high variability was observed for number of leaves, leaf area and fruits characteristics.Highest number of leaves / 10 cm of branch length was 29.83, recorded at Sukhi down location which was in par with the number of leaves recorded at Kachora (28.42).In general, number of leaves per 10cm branch length showed a decreasing trend with an increase in altitude except for Gagnani location (2075m) where it was found growing in lower altitude than its normal zone of occurrence.Leaf area ranged from 2.28 (Chormi) to 9.35 cm 2 (Bhairon ghati).The average fruit length ranged from a minimum value of 5.78 mm to a maximum of 7.92 mm where the fruits were ovate in shape.Fruit diameter ranged 5.51 to 7.24 mm in all the locations.However, large variability was recorded for the 100 fruits weight and number of fruits per 10 cm of fruiting branch.100 fruits weight of different H. salicifolia populations are presented in Table 3.In the present study the material collected from Harsil-A, Chhormee, Sonagad, Mukhawa and Jaspur-A showed large fruit size and there is a good  (1993).
The number of fruits /10 cm fruiting length of branch was lowest at Bhairon ghati (10.69) and Gangotri (12.61) and highest number of fruits per unit branch length was observed at Jaspur (99.40) followed by Mukhawa (87.14).Similarly, fruit yield per 10cm length of branch was also highest at Mukhawa (15.98 g) followed by Jaspur (15.49g) while, lowest fruit yield (1.34g) was observed at Bhairon ghati location (Table 3).Singh and Singh ( 2004) also reported wide variations for these morphological traits in natural populations of H. salicifolia and H. rhamnoides growing in high altitude cold arid areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Fruit quality characteristics
The important fruit quality parameters studied, such as acidity calculated as citric acid, total soluble solids ( ºBrix), juice percentage, seed percent and residue percentage showed a wide range of variability.The acidity in juice ranged from 4.89 percent (Sukhi top) to 7.93 per cent (Gangotri), and total soluble solids ranged between 6.93 ºB (Sukhi top) to highest 10.00 ºB (Bhairon ghati) along with 9.80 ºB of Gangotri location (Table 4).The acidity content in the samples was remarkably high as compared to the findings of Chauhan et al., (2001) who reported the range of 1.72-1.95acidity for H. rhamnoides berries.High and wide variability for the acidity and total soluble solids indicated importance of these populations for selection of genotypes to be used in preparations of different products.TSS: Acidity ratio, a useful parameter in deciding the use of berries for the preparation of different products that ranged from 1.24(Gangotri) to 1.76 (Bhairon ghati) which was significantly higher to other locations.Juice yield ranged From 70.70 to 79.23 percent.