Determination of fruit characteristics, nutrients and biochemical contents of Transvalia (Prunus persica L.) peach cultivar grafted on different clonal rootstocks obtained by selection and hybridization

Abstract

Rootstocks are frequently used in modern orchard practices due to their special characteristics. They not only eliminate the limiting factors in fruit growing but also have advantages such as increasing productivity, fruit quality, dwarfing, and nutrient yield. In addition, rootstocks have a significant impact on plant development, fruit characteristics, nutrients, and biochemical content. The study was conducted to investigate the effects of different peach rootstocks on fruit quality, nutrient content, and biochemical content. A total of 16 rootstocks of the species P. persica were used as test material. GGF3 rootstock has the highest values in terms of fruit weight (297.33 g), fruit width (83.50 mm), fruit length (77.58 mm), seed weight (9.96 g), seed width (28.16 mm), and seed length (43.47 mm) features. The effect of rootstocks on nutrients (except Cu, K, P, and Fe) in the fruits was statistically significant. The effect of rootstocks on nutrients (except Cr and Na) in the leaves was found to be statistically significant. The effect of rootstocks on both leaf and fruit plant nutrient contents varied. The rootstocks had statistically significant effects on fruit nutrient contents (except Cu, K, P, and Fe) and leaf nutrient contents (except Cr, and Na). It has been found that there is a positive relationship between micro and macronutrients. According to the results of biochemical analysis, statistically significant differences were found in biochemical contents. The highest total phenolic, total flavonoid, and total monomeric anthocyanin contents except for the total antioxidant content of peach fruits were observed in Kl 38 rootstock (137.19 mg kg−1, 25.68 mg kg−1 and 7.48 mg kg−1, respectively). The highest total antioxidant content was detected in NG1 and NGF14 rootstocks (349.46 mg kg−1). According to principal component analysis (PCA), the eigenvalue of 13 PCs was above 1.0 and accounted for 86.08 % of the total variation; this effectively showed the variation among peach rootstocks with respect to the traits analyzed. The data obtained show that rootstock varieties have a significant impact on the traits and that the selection of rootstock varieties has a very important place, especially in economic breeding.