Fruit quality assessment of apple cultivars
2008
Ikase, L., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia) | Seglina, D., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia)
Fruit quality is among the main factors of the success of a cultivar on the market. As development of modern apple growing in Latvia started only about 10 years ago, the variety assortment is still in the making process. A market-oriented project for evaluating the consumer acceptance of apple cultivars and the changes of their inner quality was done in 2005-2007 by the researchers of the Latvia State Institute of Fruit-Growing, with the aim to improve the recommended assortment of apples for commercial growing. Apple cultivars more widely grown in Latvia were included in the project, along with some new ones, in total 24 cultivars. Consumer polls were made at one supermarket and several exhibitions, using line-scale sensory evaluation (size, colour, flavour, firmness, juiciness) and questionnaires. The fruits were also analyzed for their content of Brix, titrable acids and firmness after the storage period. Apple cultivars were also evaluated by open taste panels at LSIFG (attractively and flavour, in points 1-10). In total 833 consumer responses were received. Most of the evaluated apple cultivars received good consumer evaluation, yet some (‘Tellissaare’, ‘Konfetnoe’) had lower estimation. Convincing leaders in the group of late cultivars were ‘Auksis’ and ‘Saltanat’, yet the latter has rather short period of best quality. No leading cultivars could be named in the group of early and very late ones, which shows the necessity to look for new cultivars in these groups. Some candidates for such cultivars were selected by taste panels at LSIFG.
Показать больше [+] Меньше [-]