Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, Vol 89, No 3 (2024)

Investigation of Yield and Pomological Attributes of a Moroccan ex-situ Collection of Apple Varieties (Malus domestica Borkh.)

Hassane BOUDAD, Atman ADIBA, Abdelmajid HADDIOUI, Rachid MENTAG, Kaoutar EL FAZAZI, Sara NAJJARI, Jamal CHARAFI

Pages: 219-232

Summary


Several studies reported that apple adaptation was influenced by many factors related to environmental conditions and the genotype. In the present research, the impact of the cultivar factor was assessed within the specific context of Moroccan conditions. Therefore, we conducted tests on twenty-six different apple cultivars to evaluate their productive potential, vegetative growth and pomological characteristics of their fruits. The findings revealed a substantial variation among apple cultivars across all measured characteristics. The yield of the fruits as well as their weight (a range of 19.64 – 67.92 kg tree-1) and their size (128.16 – 265.61 g and 60.02 – 81.86 mm) were within the corresponding limits. However, chemical analysis indicated that the concentration of total soluble solids in the apple fruit ranged from 13.46 °Brix to 18.29 °Brix, while the titratable acidity varied between 0.044% and 0.143% of citric acid. Biochemically, remarkable differences were found in the apple varieties tested. The total sugar content ranged from 113.96 to 142.57 g GE L-1, while the total phenols content ranged from 1.56 to 23.29 g GAE L-1. Additionally, the antioxidant activity varied between 19.13% and 90.53% respectively. The data analyses further indicated that the variety ‘Gala Royal-2’ exhibited the highest annual shoots growth, while ‘Po55’ displayed the highest leaf area. In conclusion, the finding revealed that the cultivar had a significant impact on the fruit yield, as well as the physical, biochemical and vegetative characteristics of apples. Thus, these results contribute to enhancing our knowledge of the diverse apple cultivars and their potential applications in various fields, such as breeding, cultivation and the food industry.


Keywords


Malus domestica L., cultivar, productive potential, vegetative growth, biochemical traits

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