Ecologically suitable regionalization analysis of three main Chinese jujube cultivars based on ArcGIS calculation

Chinese jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), originated in China, is known for its sweetness and health benefits, and widely introduced to >48 countries in 5 continents. In addition, Chinese jujube has thousands of cultivars, and the quality of them is influenced by soil and meteorological factors across different planting areas, delineating their ecologically suitable regionalization is of great significance for appropriate planting. In the current study, three main Chinese jujube cultivars including ‘Yueguang’ ‘Dongzao’ and ‘Jinsi 4’, which have the widest planting areas in China, were used as test materials. Firstly, through correlation analysis, it was found that the fruit quality of the three cultivars was affected by different soil and meteorological factors, respectively. Totally 11 key ecological factors were screened out as ecological indicators for studying the regionalization of jujube habitat suitability, and an ecologically suitable regionalization map of high-quality production areas based on the fruit quality of the three cultivars was established. Moreover, the Maxent model and ArcGIS technology were conducted to examine the suitable geographical distribution of jujube trees in China and in the world, it delineated areas of varying suitability for jujube cultivation within China and the potential planting regions in Northern Europe such as Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, France, and Spain. These findings highlighted the necessity of understanding environmental factors for cultivating Chinese jujube cultivars and provided a theoretical basis for the appropriate cultivation of excellent cultivars of jujube in suitable areas.