MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF MEDLAR (MESPILUS GERMANICA L.) FRUITS AND CHANGES IN QUALITY DURING RIPENING

Abstract

Medlar has acquired increasing popularity in recent years for its edible fruits andsome healing properties in modern medicine. Medlar fruits are often stored undernon-cold conditions in straw. This study was conducted to determinemorphological and biochemical characteristics of medlar fruits and changes in fruitquality occurring under ordinary storage conditions. For this purpose, eight typesof medlar trees were evaluated. The trees were at a mature stage and productive.Morphological properties such as the fruit and seed weight (g), length, and width(mm) were measured after the harvest. Fruit soluble solid content (%) and pHvalues were determined at physiological maturity after harvesting, and the fruitsoluble solid content was measured again at ripening (edible stage), after 25 daysof storage under ordinary storage conditions (mean temperature of 10 °C and meanhumidity of 65–70%). Leaf characteristics were also determined. The treeproductivity was very different between the types, and it was determined to rangefrom 5.9 and 17.8 kg. The fruit weight varied from 9.69 to 24.45 g, while the watercontent decreased nearly to the half of the harvest values in some genotypes. Thesoluble solid content changed depending on the water losses and increased duringthe ripening period. The seed numbers ranged from 1.7 to 4.7 among the types, andthe seed weight varied from 0.12 to 0.45 g. The fruits were able to reach ripeningmaturity in three weeks under the ordinary storage conditions depending on thetype. Thus, this method of storage is practical for the medlar producer, but theresults clearly showed that the storage period was too short and that the fruitquality was negatively affected. Cold storage conditions are needed to ensurequality and a long selling time.