MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FOURTEEN FIG TREES CULTIVATED IN OULMÈS AREA, MOROCCO

Moroccan fig biodiversity is very large and needs to be evaluated to help select fig varieties suited for production of fresh and dried figs with excellent quality and crop value. Morphological and chemical evaluations were conducted on 14 individual fig trees grown in Oulmès area of Morocco. Morphological characters examined were fruit shape, fruit weight, ostiole width, stalk shape, skin cracking, fruit external colour, fruit internal colour, cavity importance, seed number per fruit, fruit resistance to handling and fruit flavour. Chemical characters studied were fruit total acidity and total soluble solids. Results indicated substantial morphological variability between individual trees surveyed. Some of the trees appear to have potential for new plantings and deserve further characterization.