THE INFLUENCE OF GROWING PLACE ON THE RUTIN CONTENT ONFAGOPYRUM ESCULENTUMANDFAGOPYRUM TATARICUMVARIETIES SEEDS

Rutin content analysis in the grain of buckwheat varieties (19Fagopyrum esculentumand 3F. tataricum) grown in central (Molise) and Southern Italy (Calabria and Basilicata) has shown: a) substantial differences among varieties ofF. esculentumgrown at the same location, though the ranking of varieties varied with the growing site; b) large differences among locations which, due to the large variation among varieties, were not significant. Highly significant were instead the differences expressed by individual varieties ofF. esculentumgrown at different locations; c) much higher values of rutin content inF. tataricum, although the differences among varieties and locations were clearly less pronounced than those observed inF. esculentum. Apparently, the pedoclimatic characteristics of given environment elicited a differential response among the varieties ofF. esculentum. The hypothesis is that the relevant difference in the rutin content observed inF. esculentumbetween locations might be related to the irradiance characteristics inherent the different altitudes. However,F. tataricumcould not keep its high rutin content regardless of the environmental conditions.