BIOCHEMICAL AND POMOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FRUIT OF SOME COMMERCIAL MEDLAR CULTIVARS (Mespilus germanica L) GROWN IN BIJELO POLJE

Abstract

This study described some biochemical and pomological parameters of fruits in 4 commercial medlar cultivars (‘Domestic medlar’, ‘Plovdivska’; ‘Royal medlar’; ‘Rasna’) grown in ecological conditions of BijeloPolje (Montenegro) in the period from 2010 to 2012. Recording of biochemical parameters such as dry matter, total soluble solids, total acidity and pHwas the most important segment of this research. The study also focused on comprised pomological traits such as fruit weight (g), fruit size (mm) and length (mm) and petiole length (mm).The values for fruit dry mater ranged from 26.2% to 28.8%, total soluble solid contents ranged from 20.45% to 22.25%, titrable acid contents ranged from 1.9% to 2.28%. The values for fruit weights ranged from 21.4g to 25.5g, fruit length ranged from 34.5mm to 38.4mm, fruit widths ranged from 31.5mm to 36.2mm, and petiole length ranged from 19.8mm to 23.2mm. Over the years of study, all researched cultivars had yields in the agroecological conditions of BijeloPolje. The ‘Royal medlar’ cultivar is the cultivar we would recommend to producers, due to its fruit dry matter content of 28.2%, the total soluble solid contents of 22.25%, and the total titrable acid content of 2.28%. Moreover, the fruit mass was the highest for the ‘Royal medlar’ cultivar (25.5g). The length and width of the fruit in the same cultivar had also maximum values (38.4mm and 36.2mm, respectively), as compared to other researched cultivars.