Study of Rootstock and Apple Cultivar Interaction on Some Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Fruit under Mashhad Climatic Conditions

Numerous studies have been performed on the effect of rootstock and cultivar on physicochemical traits of apple fruit with their results showing different effects of these two factors. In order to study three vegetative rootstocks on some quantitative and qualitative characteristics of apple cultivars "Golden Delicious" and "Red Delicious", an experiment was carried out in factorial design based on randomized complete blocks with four replications in orchard of Mashhad Agricultural Research Center in 2021. Fruit quantitative and qualitative characteristics, including weight, volume, density, length, diameter, firmness, pH, total soluble solids, phenol content, antioxidant properties and anthocyanin have been measured. The highest amount of total phenol (652.9 μg.g-1FW) and anthocyanin (35.9 mg.g-1FW) has been measured in "Red delicious" on M9 rootstock. The results of this study show that "Red delicious" has had the highest amount of diameter (78/64 mm) and weight (166/9 g). The highest amount of fruit firmness has been observed in M9 rootstock (5/64 kgcm-3). In general, the results of this study indicate a different effect of rootstock and cultivar interaction on the studied characteristics. Depending on the purpose of gardener, different grafting compounds can be recommended "Red delicious" on M9 and MM106  rootstock with highest amount of total phenol and anthocyanin is suggested as a valuable grafting compounds in terms of health benefits under Mashhad Climatic Conditions.