Abstract
Pomological characteristics and consumer acceptability of four scab-resistant apple cultivars (‘Topaz’, ‘Florina’, ‘Goldstar’ and ‘Golden Orange’) and standard commercial cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ were investigated. Consumer acceptability consisted of rating fruit samples on Likert scales measuring appearance, flavour, size, sweetness, acidity, crispiness, juiciness, skin texture and general impression. Consumers better evaluated the cultivar ‘Topaz’ sensory characteristics of flavour, juiciness, taste and general impression than other evaluated scab-resistant apple cultivars and the cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’. ‘Golden Delicious’ got good grades for appearance, size and sweetness. ‘Topaz’ also had the best pomological characteristic related to measured fruit firmness, contents of soluble solids and organic acids. It can be concluded that only the cultivar ‘Topaz’ among the scab-resistant apple cultivars achieved a good consumer assessment.
Highlights
The ongoing trend of fruit production in the world and Europe is ecologically responsible farming systems, which imply minimal or no application of chemical plant protection products
A three-member expert team determined the optimal maturity stage for each of the investigated varieties based on maturity indicators and the fruits were harvested at the commercial maturity stage
As can be seen (Table 1), the apple cultivar had a significant impact on all measured pomological parameters of fruit quality, except for total soluble solids content
Summary
The ongoing trend of fruit production in the world and Europe is ecologically responsible farming systems (organic and integrated production), which imply minimal or no application of chemical plant protection products. In order to achieve economical production in such systems, farmers must grow varieties that are resistant to the most economically important diseases. The economically important diseases of apple are scab (Venturia inaequalis (Cooke) G. Wint./Aderh.) and powdery mildew (Podosphaera leucotricha (Ellis and Everh.) E.
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