Integrated Multi-year Assessment of Cultivar, Harvest Stage, and Storage Duration Effects on Peach Phenology, Productivity, and Fruit Quality Attributes

چکیده مقاله

Shifts in consumer demographics coupled with increasingly diverse preferences for skin color, flesh color, and seasonal availability necessitate the development and evaluation of new peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] and nectarine (Prunus persica var. nucipersica) cultivars. Long-term phenological characteristics, yield, and fruit quality attributes of several cultivars of yellow-fleshed and white-fleshed peaches harvested at two times (harvest 1 and har vest 2) and stored for two storage periods (period 1 and period 2) were studied over four seasons. The ranges of har vest dates among cultivars were wider than the differences in their bloom dates. Trees of ‘Burpeachtwentyone’ (‘B21’), ‘Diamond Princess’,and‘Snow Princess’ had higher yields, but those of ‘Ice Princess’, ‘Sierra Snow’,and ‘Bright Princess’ had lower yields. ‘Snow Giant’ and ‘O’Henry’ peaches at harvest had larger fruit, but ‘Ice Prin cess’ and ‘Bright Princess’ had smaller fruit than that of other cultivars during all years. The increases in the fruit size in the second harvest of ‘BP21’ and ‘Diamond Princess’ peaches were higher than those of all other cultivars. The percentage of fruit weight loss after the second period of storage was always greater than that of the first storage period in all cultivars. Fruit of ‘BP21’ picked at the first and second harvest times and fruit of ‘Ice Princess’ picked at the first harvest time had higher percentages of weight loss after the first and second storage periods. Fruit of ‘Snow Giant’ and ‘Bright Princess’ picked at the first harvest often had lower firmness, and those of ‘Ice Princess’ had higher firmness compared with most other cultivars. ‘Snow Princess’ and ‘Candy Princess’ were among the cul tivars with the highest levels of soluble solids concentration (SSC) both at harvest 1 and harvest 2 and after period 1 and period 2 storage. However, fruit of ‘Diamond Princess’, ‘Ice Princess’, and‘Bright Princess’ had higher SSC only at harvest 1. Fruit of ‘Snow Giant, ‘BP21,’ and ‘Sierra Snow’ had lower SSC at both harvest 1 and harvest 2 and after the two periods of storage every year as well as when values were pooled across years. Overall, growing ‘BP21’, ‘Diamond Princess’,and‘Candy Princess’ are recommended for the mid-to-late August market, and ‘Snow Princess’ is suitable for early September. ‘O’Henry’ and ‘Snow Giant’ are recommended for mid-to-late September harvest times.