Impact of Quince Clonal Rootstocks on Yield and Fruit Quality Characteristics of European Pear (Pyrus communis L.) Cultivars

Abstract

The study was conducted during two sequential research years of 2020 and 2021 at the fruit research station of Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkiye. The aim of the research was to assess the effect of quince clonal rootstocks (Province Quince BA29 [BA29], Quince A [QA], and Quince MC [MC]) on yield and fruit quality of pear cultivars ('Deveci', 'Williams', 'Santa Maria' and 'Abate Fetel'). Fruit weight, width, length, fruit stalk length and thickness, fruit color traits (L*, a*, b*, chroma, hue degrees), fruit firmness, total soluble solids, acidity, pH, marketable fruit rate, black spotted fruit rate, and preharvest fruit drop rate were evaluated as quality properties. In the case of yield attributes, number of fruit per tree, yield per tree, yield per hectare, yield per trunk cross sectional area, and yield per canopy volume were taken into consideration. Results of the research revealed that all aforementioned evaluated characteristics were statistically significantly affected under three factors combination at the 5 level of significance (P < 0.05) when Duncan's multiple range test was applied to the data. In brief, it was revealed that treatment combinations affected yield and quality characteristics. In general, in terms of yield per tree and yield per hectare, it was observed that the 'Santa Maria' cultivar gave better results in all rootstocks.