HORTICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MAYHAW (Crataegus opaca) CLONES FROM A 36-YEAR-OLD NATIVE POPULATION

Abstract

National demand for authentic Southern cuisine has contributed to the increased utilization of mayhaw fruit. Certain fruit characteristics are essential for the processing of mayhaw. Most of the mayhaw fruit used in processing comes from wild populations. Efforts are being made to identify superior clones from native populations. This study was undertaken to determine the chances of finding a superior clone with desirable processing attributes in a completely random population of mayhaw seedlings. Trees were removed from a 36 year-old mayhaw seedling orchard and relocated to a new orchard. The original orchard contained over 1500 trees. Five years after establishment in the new orchard, fruit were harvested from 75 of the trees and evaluated for fruit weight, percent malic acid, percent soluble solids, and color. Of the 75 trees, 48 were within one standard deviation of the mean trunk diameter. Seven trees fell below 12.1 cm and only 4 trees were larger than 19 cm. The mean fruit weight was 2.1 g with a range from 1.77-2.4 g. Sixty-seven percent of the trees produced fruit having weights within one standard deviation of the mean. Percent malic acid of mayhaw juice averaged 1.35% among the 75 trees. Seventy-two percent of the trees produced fruit with percent malic acid within one standard deviation of the mean. Mean percent soluble solids of mayhaw juice were 6.1 with a range of 5.36% to 7.01%. Seventy-three percent of the trees produced fruit with soluble solids percentages within one standard deviation of the mean. The probability of finding individuals in this population that exceeded the mean of these parameters (percent malic acid,%SS, and fruit weight) is less than 10%.