Fruit Quality and Storability of Some Asian Pear Cultivars Collected in the Gene Bank of the Research Institute of Horticulture, Central Poland

The aim of this study was to evaluate the fruit quality of 13 Asian pear cultivars grown in climatic conditions of central Poland. The following cultivars were tested: ‘Chojuro’, ‘Hayatama’, ‘Hosui’, ‘Kosui’, ‘Yuan Huang’, ‘Nijisseiki’, ‘Dżin Li’, ‘Er Shi Shinge’, ‘Er Jang Li’, ‘Golden 20^th’, ‘Min Czi Li’, ‘San Li’, and ‘Shinseiki’. Pears were harvested in Experimental Orchard of Research Institute of Horticulture in Dąbrowice (near Skierniewice). Fruits were stored for 10 weeks at 0 °C in regular atmospheric conditions. Flesh firmness (FF), total soluble solids (TSS), and titratable acidity (TA) were measured at harvest and after the storage followed with 1 and 7 days of shelf life (SL) at 18 °C. After the storage, the sensory evaluation was also performed. Among the tested cultivars, ‘Min Czi Li’ and ‘San Li’ were the most firm (above 45 N) and ‘Kosui’ was the least firm (below 28 N) at harvest time. High amount of TSS (above 11% in both seasons and harvest dates) was observed in ‘Chojuro’, ‘Hayatama’, ‘Kosui’, ‘Yuan Huang’, and ‘Er Jang Li’ pears. Low TSS (not more than 10.6% at harvest) was observed in ‘Nijisseiki’, ‘Dżin Li’, and ‘Er Shi Shinge’ cultivars. The large differences among cultivars were observed in TA. High TA was observed in ‘Nijisseiki’ (above 0.32% in all terms of analyses) and low TA in ‘Hayatama’ and ‘Kosui’ (below 0.14%). All of the evaluated cultivars can be stored for 10 weeks at 0 °C in regular atmosphere without major negative impact on their quality characteristics. Fruits showed a slight (sometimes significant) decrease in FF after storage and a slight or no changes in TSS and TA. In sensory evaluations, ‘Chojuro’, ‘Hayatama’, ‘Hosui’, ‘Kosui’, ‘Yuan Huang’, ‘Er Jang Li’, ‘Er Shi Shinge’, and ‘Shinseiki’ (mostly cultivars characterized by high TSS) obtained highest scores for the overall quality (above 5.0 points in 10 points scale).