The genus Sorbus is thought to originate in East Asia, including over 250 different species of trees and shrubs in the Rosaceae family, which are widespread in the northern hemisphere. Although the trees and bushes of the genus Sorbus are mostly known for their ornamental use, recently, new studies on the chemical composition of these fruits discovered many positive effects on human health. This thesis focuses on three species of the genus Sorbus (S. aucuparia, S. torminalis, S. domestica) and two hybrids, one between rowanbery, whitebeam and red chokeberry and the other between rowanberry and siberian hawthorn ('Burka', 'Businka'). We tried to summarize the findings of previous research studies on the biochemical composition and potential health benefits of Sorbus fruits. Glucose, fructose and sorbitol are major contributors to the total sugar content, while sucrose is absent in most analysed genotypes or detected only in traces. The highest amount of total sugars contained rowanberry (S. aucuparia) (218,0 g/kg FW). To point out, sorbitol was detected in all species of the genus Sorbus, while it is absent in most other fruit species. The most prevalent organic acids in these fruits are malic and citric acid, the highest value of total organic acids contained wild service tree (S. torminalis) (40,24 g/kg FW), where the highest content among all acids represented malic acid (35,86 g/kg FW). Although fruits of this genus are quite rich in ascorbic acid, its amount does not stand out compared to other fruit species. We have found that these fruits are a highly important source of phenolic compounds, which are known to be positively correlated to antioxidant activity. According to many studies, comparing to other fruit species, fruits of these genus are all rich in phenolic compounds, however their values vary among different genotypes. Health benefits of these fruits include prevention of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, treatment of diabetic symptoms etc.
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