Yield and Pomological Characteristics of Three Pomegranate (Punica granatum L) Cultivars: Wonderful, Acco and Herskovitz

Abstract

Pomegranate fruit has been associated with a high level of nutrients and many health benefits. This study evaluated the yield and pomological characteristics of three pomegranate cultivars: Wonderful, Acco and Herskovitz grown in Cyprus conditions. Researches performed by collecting data from 17 pomegranate orchards between 2011 (4 years old) and 2012 (5 years old). Yield (kg/tree) was determined according to total harvest. Ten samples were randomly selected from each orchard and each cultivar to determine average fruit weight, number of arils per fruit, fruit width and height, aril per cent, juice per cent and total soluble solids. Results indicated that the Wonderful cultivar had the highest fruit weight and second highest yield (481.12 g/fruit and 14.17 kg/tree). The second highest fruit weight was obtained from Herskovitz which had the highest yield (431.04 g/fruit and 15.44 kg/tree). The lowest fruit weight and yield obtained from Acco (350.31 g/fruit and 11.43 kg/tree). Acco had highest juice content followed by Wonderful and Herskovitz (40.22% > 35.60% > 29.42%). Wonderful had the highest juice content (5.05 l/tree). Juice content per tree for Acco and Herskovitz were determined 4.58 l and 4.53 l, respectively.