Quality potential of some new pear cultivars-How to obtain fruit of the best sensory characteristics?

Abstract

The eating quality of nine new pear cultivars grown in Poland was investigated in 2008-2011. Fruits of two summer cultivars: 'Alfa' and 'Radana', as well as late season varieties: 'Hortensia', 'Dicolor', 'Concorde', 'Uta', 'Xenia', 'Erika' and 'Verdi' were compared to fruits of 'Clapp's Favorite' and 'Conference', which were taken as cultivars of reference. Fruits of all cultivars were harvested from the Experimental Orchard of the Research Institute of Horticulture at the commercial maturity stage and stored at +2.5 °C or-0.5 °C in a normal atmosphere (NA) or at-0.5 °C in a controlled atmosphere (CA) (0.7% CO2 : 2% O2) for 6 to 16 weeks. At the end of storage, the fruits of each cultivar were subjected to an individual ripening schedule at 18 °C (up to 14 days), which generated samples of diversified quality attributes. Based on instrumental analyses and descriptive sensory assessment the quality attributes of each cultivar were examined. The gathered data on the dynamics of quality attribute changes during the ripening stage confirm that each new cultivar needs an individual strategy during storage and ripening in order to maximise their specific sensory attributes to increase potential market value. The obtained data leads to the conclusion that 'Xenia' and 'Concorde' fruits have the biggest chance to fulfil consumer expectations, as they were appreciated more than the reference 'Conference' cultivar. Among the others also 'Hortensia', 'Verdi' and 'Dicolor' were scored higher than 'Conference', but their advantages were not so evident.