SOME FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDLAR (MESPILUS GERMANICA L.) GENOTYPES GROWN IN ORDU, TURKEY

Abstract

Medlar is grown mostly as scattered trees within or around hazelnut orchards in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. The harvested fruits are used for family consumption or sold in local markets. This research was carried out to determine certain morphological and chemical attributes of 39 medlar genotypes grown in Ordu region in 2012. There was large variation among the genotypes that the average fruit weight, fruit length and fruit width were between 6.32 and 36.42 g, 21.8 and 40.1 mm and 20.6 and 42.7 mm while width and length of calyx basin ranged from 8.3 to 23.3 mm and from 3.8 to 11.8 mm, respectively. Soluble dry matter, titreable acid contents and pH varied between 2.3 and 11.9 g/l, 8 and 18%, and 3.62 and 4.90, respectively. Based on especially fruit size and weight, the clone #3 was selected as a promising genotype.