Investigation of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of some commercial pomegranate cultivars in Yazd climatic conditions

In order to evaluate the quality and quantity of some important commercial Iranian pomegranate cultivars, in the climatic conditions of Yazd, the fruits of 12 cultivars including: Ardestani Mahvalat, Bejestani, Shishekap Ferdows, Naderi Badroud, Qajaq Qom, Gel Tafti, Shirin Shahvar, Robab Neyriz, Malase Yazdi, Malase Saveh, Malase Yousefkhani and Khazar Bardaskan were harvested at commercial maturity stage and were evaluated for important quantitative and qualitative traits. The results showed, there were significant differences among the cultivars in terms of fruit weight, skin and aril color properties (CIE L *, a *, b * and Hugh angle), soluble solids content, titratable acidity, antioxidant activity and anthocyanin content. Meanwhile, the highest fruit weight was measured in Shirin Shahvar cultivar, this cultivar also had the lowest titratable acidity and the highest taste index among the cultivars, and also this cultivar showed a bright color, however, the brightest color among the cultivars was observed in Naderi Badroud. Based on the skin and aril color properties, anthocyanin content and fruit taste, Malase Yazdi was the best among the cultivars. However, cultivars such as Shishekap Ferdows, also showed good quality characteristics. Also the correlations between traits was investigated and significant relationships were observed between color properties and amount of anthocyanin or between antioxidant capacity and amount of phenol or amount of anthocyanin.