Identification of new Iranian sour cherry genotypes with enhanced fruit quality parameters and high antioxidant properties

Abstract

Sour cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) are rich in anthocyanins and have a correspondingly high antioxidant activity and potential health benefits with respect to the prevention of many diseases, including cancers and diabetes. As one of the centres of origin of the subgenus Cerasus, Iran is rich in cherry germplasm resources. The aim of this research was to evaluate promising Iranian sour cherries for different fruit quality characteristics. Generally, significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were observed across the sour cherry genotypes for characters such as fruit weight (FW) (1.89–5.51 g), firmness (0.17–0.37 Nmm−1), total sugars (14.57–21.54 °Brix), titratable acidity (0.91%–2.81% malic acid), total organic acids (381.04–1742.50 mg 100 g−1), total phenolic content (184.10–625.38 mg GAE 100 g−1), total anthocyanin content (17.49–123.80 mg cy-3-gly 100 g−1) and total antioxidant activity (10.09%–28.79% FW). In addition, a wide variation in fruit colour and sensory quality were observed within the studied genotypes. It was found that Iranian selections such as KaThLaSSGe21, Hamedan, KaTaJo2Ge9, KrRIV4C20, EsASC1V1SS1 and KaThLa3Ge23 generally scored higher for desirable fruit characteristics across this range of parameters than existing commercial genotypes used as the control comparisons. Thus, they can be considered as promising genotypes for further evaluation in cherry breeding programmes, as well as being potentially useful for the cherry juice/concentrate industry.