Assessing Quality Characteristics of Green Gage (Prunus domestica L.) Genotypes at Different Harvest Times

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper describes the effect of harvest time on some fruit quality of green gage (Prunus domestica L.) genotypes. Fruits of 10 greengage genotypes including Damiri, Gareh Zar, MP102, MP115, MP125, Gojeh Soltan, MP110, Sari Zar Zehtab, and MP118 were collected in 2015 from a 15-year-old green gage orchard located at Maragheh, Iran. Fruit were picked three times (50 days after full bloom, 80 days after full bloom and during maturation) in 2015 from each genotype. Some parameters related to fruit quality, such as fruit weight (FW), dry weight (DW), fruit volume (FV), flesh firmness (FF), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), vitamin C (VC), total phenolics (T-Phs), total flavonoid (T-Flav), total antioxidant (T-Ant), flavonoids [catechin (Cat) and quercetin (Quer)] and phenolic acids [caffeic acid (Caf) and chlorogenic acid (Chl)] were analyzed. Results showed a significant effect (p < .01) of genotype, harvest time, and interaction effect of genotype×harvest time on the studied traits. Traits such as TA, TSS, VC, and T-Phs increased with fruit development. Conversely, Chl, T-Ant, and FF decreased during fruit ripening stages. According to the PCA results, at all harvest times, Ghareh Zar genotype was best-characterized due to their considerable amounts of TA.