Phenological and Pomological Evaluation of Some Apple Promising Genotypes

During the last two decades, valuable apple genetic resources have been collected and planted in the collection of native apple in Karaj, Iran. In present study, the phenological and pomological characteristics of 15 apple promising genotypes with cv. Golden Delicious and cv. Gala, as control cultivars were evaluated in Kamalshahr field station, Karaj, Iran, in 2012 and 2013. Considerable diversity for phenological and morphological traits was observed among apple genotypes. T-R1 and SH-R genotypes were the earliest flowering and B-K-KH was the latest flowering genotype. Apple promising genotypes showed overlapping for flowering time and grouped into early flowering, medium flowering and late flowering genotypes. T5 genotype had the lowest before harvest fruit drop, while KH-1 genotype had the highest fruit drop. SSB genotype had the highest fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight and flesh firmness, and in contrary GO-N3 genotype had the lowest values for these traits. M-N10 genotype was superior for fruit aroma, fruit taste and texture as well as overall fruit acceptability. The sweetest fruit belonged to "Golden Delicious" and the most sour fruit related to genotype T5. H1-SH genotype as well as GO-N3 were the earliest ripening cultivars. According to the results of this study, M-N10, M-N8 and H1-SH genotypes were superior in comparison with other apple promising genotypes for the overall acceptability of pomological and organoleptic characteristics. Finally, the M-N10, M-N8 and H1-SH genotypes were released in 2021 as new early and medium ripening apple cultivars with the names of Nima, Zagros and Shamin, respectively.