Industrial Crops and Products 61 (2014) 145–150 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products jo ur nal home p age: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Resource assessment and economic potential of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus and Vaccinium uliginosum) on Osogovo Mtn., R. Macedonia Gjoshe Stefkov a , Slavcho Hristovski b , Jasmina Petreska Stanoeva c,∗ , Marina Stefova c , Ljupcho Melovski b , Svetlana Kulevanova a a Institute of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia b Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia c Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 29 March 2014 Received in revised form 24 June 2014 Accepted 29 June 2014 Keywords: Bilberries Annual production Phenolics Economic potential Sustainable use a b s t r a c t Bilberries in Macedonia represent significant natural resource that provides additional income for num- ber of people. However, the systems for collection, licensing, control and monitoring are still not well developed in most of the Republic of Macedonia which puts pressure on natural habitats and wild species and leads to unsustainable use. The aim of this paper is to assess the economic potential based on sustainable usage of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus – European bilberry and Vaccinium uliginosum – Bog bilberry) on Osogovo Mtn., north-east Macedonia by intensive field assessment of annual production of fruits and leaves along with chemical characterization of the leaves and analysis of the importance of bilberries for local population. Field methods for assessment of surface of the heathlands and were based on remote sensing and ground truth data by using GIS; leaves and fruits production was estimated by standard transect square method; chemical characterization of the leaves was done by HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS n . The average production of dry leaves and fruits was 11.7 g m -2 and 213.2 g m -2 , respectively. The total dry fruits biomass on Osogovo Mtn. in 2008 was estimated at 249.11 t (218.82 t in heathlands) from which 53% was European bilberry fruits. The total dry leaves biomass was estimated at 1459.4 t (927.1 t of European bilberry). The total content of all phenolic compounds in freeze-dried extract of V. myrtillus was 36.53 mg g -1 . Phenolic acids (caffeic acid and its esters with quinic acid and glucose, or other hydroxycinammic acids such as p-coumaric, p-coumaroylquinic or feruloylquinic acid and corresponding p-coumaroyl gluco- side) represented 36% of total phenolic compounds in the European bilberry leaves extract, followed by flavonols (60%) and catechin (4%). Estimated economic income of sustainable use of fruits and leaves is 1.6 and 0.5 milion D , respectively. This amount can support 340 people with average Macedonian annual gross salary. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Natural resources management depends on ecological knowl- edge of species and communities as well as socio-economic and cultural characteristics of a certain region. There is increasing demand for use of natural resources of medicinal and aromatic plants especially of wild berries by local inhabitants in the Republic ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +389 2 3 249 935. E-mail addresses: jasmina.petreska@pmf.ukim.mk, jasmina.petreska@gmail.com (J. Petreska Stanoeva). of Macedonia. Collection of bilberries on Osogovo, Plakenska, Shara and Pelister mountains produces significant additional incomes for number of people. Besides the economic importance for local inhabitants, bilberries are used as a source of income for the admin- istration of protected areas in the R. Macedonia as well as a tool for involving local communities in the protected areas’ management. However, the system for collection, licensing, control and monitor- ing is still not well developed in R. Macedonia, with the exception of Pelister National Park (Petrova et al., 2009). There are three species of bilberries in Macedonia (Micevski, 1998) and only two on Osogovo Mtn.: Vaccinium myrtillus L. (Euro- pean bilberry) and Vaccinium uliginosum L. (Bog bilberry). They http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.06.053 0926-6690/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.