Research On The Cultivars Classification And Resources Utilization Of Crabapple (Malus Spp.) In Shandong

Crabapple is one of chinese traditional ornamental plants, which is widely used and holds an important position in the world gardens. The study has stayed in the taxonomy and horticulture research since long times ago, but the ornamental crabapple resources lacks systematic collection and investigation. Based on the overall investigation of crabapple resources in Liaocheng, Qingdao, Linyi, Jinan of Shandong province, the paper presented cultivars morphological and numerical classification of Malus Mill. The main results are as follows:1.To the overall investigation of the cultivars resources of crabapple in Shandong, 38 crabapple cultivars were recorded, among them 18 are North American ornamental crabapple which have been introduced to Shandong successfully, 20 were the local cultivars. The paper registered the characters of all the cultivars in detail and draw up a simple but practical key to classification.The paper also prsented some advisable advice for the utilization of crabapple.2.Based on the studies on the North American ornamental crabapple, the paper divided them into 3 groups: Double Group, Single-red Flower Group and Single-white Flower Group. This classification system was also supported by the result of numerical classification.3.The paper studied the numerical classification of the 18 North American crabapple cultivars. The 22 main characters were selected. The result of cluster analysis showed that each character is relative. Thus provided quantitative foundation for observing, recording and accepting or rejecting. The PCA and cluster analysis were applied in this research. The classification system taked flower forms as the firsr level of classification, the color as the second and fruits forms and stalk were the third level respectively.4. A multifactorical appraisal system based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process was developed for 38 crabapple cultivars of Shandong. 13 appraisal criteria were judged according to the gardening characteristics of crabapple. This system was good in flexibility and accuracy. The results also showed that the North American ornamental crabapple cultivars won higher ornamental value than the local crabapple in Shandong.5. Taking the leaves of Malus micromalus as material, the optimization of extraction method of total flavonoids from crabapple leaves was obtained by using orthogonal test design, and the content of total flavonoids was determined. The result showed that 75℃of water-bath temperature, 1:30 of ratio of solid to ethanol solution, and two-hour extraction time were the optimal conditions.The experiment also measured the content of total flavonoids of crabapple cultivars from the same place.But using the microemulsion TLC on the separation of flavinoid drugs has little value in cultivars classification of crabapple.