Objective To explore the key climate factors affecting the quality of 'Yanshanzaofeng' chestnut in different cultivation areas and establish the key climate factors evaluation system of 'Yanshanzaofeng' cultivation for providing theoretical basis for the scientific planting and introduction of 'Yanshanzaofeng'.

MethodsBased on 'Yanshanzaofeng' planted in eight different growing areas, the correlation and regression analysis were carried out between nut quality indexes and climate factors, and the nonlinear regression equation between nut quality indexes and key climate factors was constructed.

ResultsThe results showed that the cross diameter (33.63 mm), longitudinal diameter (26.98 mm), fruit shape index (0.73) and single grain weight (10.86 g) of 'Yanshanzaofeng' in Jinhua cultivation area were higher than those in other cultivation areas. The soluble sugar content (19.01%) and amylopectin/amylose ratio (1.69) in qianxi cultivation area of Hebei province were higher than those in other areas. The key climate factors affecting the quality of 'Yanshanzaofeng' nuts were temperature, light and water, and the daily range of average temperature in growing season had the greatest influence on the quality of nuts. The nut quality of 'Yanshanzaofeng' was the best in the ecological area with a daily average temperature difference of 25.89℃ in the growing season. The optimal value of quality indexes were soluble sugar 25.63%, amylopectin/amylose ratio 1.93, protein 8.32%.

Conclusion Climatic conditions such as longer sunshine duration, higher average temperature and greater diurnal range of average temperature in growing season are conducive to the formation of sweet and waxy quality of 'Yanshanzaofeng'.