Assessment of elevation influence and associated plant species on the bilberry population (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) fruit yield, in northern part of Albania

• Author: Agim Pepkolaj - Ndoc Faslia
• Position: Agricultural University of Tirana, Department of Plant Sciences and Technologies
• Pages: 86-94

86

Vol. 3 No. 3

January, 2018

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Assessment of elevation inuence and associated plant species on the

bilberry population (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) fruit yield, in northern part of

Albania

MSc. Agim Pepkolaj

Prof. Dr. Ndoc Faslia

Agricultural University of Tirana, Department of Plant Sciences and Technologies

Abstract

Assessment of elevation inuence and associated plant species on the bilberry fruit yield was

carried out in the four natural growing areas of Tropoja region. Bilberry fruit were harvested

manually when ripe, in four plots of 10 m square selected randomly per each targeted growing

site of Tropoja (Doberdol, Trokuz, Lestrana, Maja e boronices) from July to September and

were weighted separately. Elevation and the presence of plant species in association with

bilberry per each site were also recorded. Factorial analysis found signicant variability

among bilberry populations observed in Tropoja region. Comparisons of means using Tukey's

Q test found signicant dierences between bilberry populations of Lestrana, Trokuz and

Maja e boronices. Principal components analysis identied the variances of PC1 and PC2 that

account for 88.8% of the total variation. Populations of Doberdol, Trokuz and Lestrana were

the important sources of variation on the yield of bilberry. High inuence on bilberry yield

was determined by Geum montanum, Graminaceous plants, Hypericum perforatum, Vaccinium

uliginosum, Veratrum album and Verbascum nigrum species. Pinus peuce and Pinus pinea species

showed a negative inuence on the distribution and the fruit yield of bilberry. Regression

analysis found signicant relationship between the bilberry fruit yield and the elevation of

plot sites.

Keywords: Associated plant species, bilberry population and factorial analysis, elevation,

regression analysis.

Introduction

Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) is a member of the Ericaceae family, and is also known

as European blueberry, huckleberry, and whortleberry. It is a shrubby perennial plant

one to six dm tall in height and can be found in the mountains and forests of Europe

and the northern United States. Vaccinium myrtillus is found natively in Europe,

and the primary commercial supply of bilberry comes from wild sources in Poland,

Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Albania, the former Yugoslavia (Moeck 1994), Sweden,

and other Scandinavian countries (Upton, 2001).

Anthocyanin is a pigment, which gives to the berry fruit the red colour (Baj et al.

1983), is one of the components used for quality control of the bilberry (Anja et al,

2013). The anthocyanin depends from the place and collection time (Burdulis et al,

2007). Akersrom et al, (2010) reported the anthocyanin concentration is increased

with increasing elevation. Comparing to other berry cultivars, bilberry (wild fruits)

contains the largest amount of anthocyanin (Upton, 2001), and higher antioxidant

activity compare to other cultivated blueberry cultivars (Ozlem et al, 2015, Burdulis