Study of Vegetative, Pomological and Yield Characteristics of Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) New Cultivars and Promising Genotypes in Isfahan in Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Field and Horticulture Crops Research Department, West Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Urmia, Iran.

2 Researcher, Field and Horticulture Crops Research Department, Isfahan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Isfahan, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Temperate Fruits Research Center, Horticultural Sciences Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran.

10.22092/spj.2026.372051.1464

Abstract

The quince cv. Isfahan is of great importance due to its excellent fruit large size, quality, special aroma and taste. Currently, cv. Isfahan of quince is the dominant cultivar in Iran. Although this cultivar has desirable fruit quality, but is susceptible to the fire blight disease and has fruit yield less than some other quince genotypes in Iran. Cv. Viduja, cv. Behta, cv. Isfahan and promising genotypes; Isfahan 2, Isfahan 3, and Isfahan 5 which were grafted on quince seedling and hawthorn rootstock were evaluated in Isfahan climatic conditions. The research was carried out at Shahid Fozveh Agricultural Research Station in Isfahan in two phases: vegetative phase for three years (2017-2019) and reproductive phase for four years (2021-2024). The hawthorn rootstock compared to quince seedling rootstock decreased tree height and increased rootstock diameter, grafting site diameter, cultivar diameter, tree canopy. The cv. Behta and the Isfahan 3 and Isfahan 5 genotypes had greater vegetative growth than other cultivars and genotypes. Hawthorn rootstock significantly increased fruit yield tree-1 compared to quince seedling rootstock in Isfahan climatic conditions. The increase in fruit yield tree-1 was mainly due to an increase in the number of fruits tree-1 because fruit weight did not differ between the two rootstocks. The highest fruit yield tree-1 with 30.6 and 31 kg was for cv. Viduja cultivar and genotype Isfahan 5, respectively. The lowest fruit yield tree-1 with 10.5 kg was for the genotype Isfahan 2.
 
Key words: Quince, titratable acidity, fruits number tree-1, fruit taste index.
 
Introduction
The cv. Isfahan is the most popular quince cultivar grown in Iran, mainly due to its high fruit quality. However, this cultivar is susceptible to fire blight diseases and has lower fruit yield in comparison with some other quince genotypes in the country (Abdollahi, 2023). In the past decade, cv. Viduja and cv. Behta, have been released and introduced by quince breeders, which have higher fruit yield compared to the cv. Isfahan.
The rootstock in fruit trees have great effects on growth control, bearing, nutrition uptake, resistance to biotic and tolerance to abiotic stresses (Henareh, and Tatari, 2022). In Iran, quince cultivars are mostly grafted on quince seedling and hawthorn rootstocks. Hawthorn species are tolerance to drought and salt stresses. These species have higher efficiency in uptaking microelements such as iron in calcareous soils (Mohammadi and Rabiei, 2024).
The aim of this research was to investigate the growth and fruit yield of quince new cultivars and promising genotypes grafted on seedling and hawthorn rootstocks in the soil and climatic conditions of Isfahan.
 
Material and Methods
In this research, cv. Viduja, cv. Behta, cv. Isfahan and promising genotypes; Isfahan 2, Isfahan 3 and Isfahan 5 grafted on of seedling quince and hawthorn rootstocks were studied in vegetative and reproductive stages at the Shahid Fozveh Agricultural Research Station in Isfahan, Iran. The experimental design was factorial arrangements in randomized complete block design with three replications. There were three trees in each plot. In vegetative stage, vegetative characteristics; rootstock diameter, grafting site diameter, cultivar diameter, tree height, current shoot length, internode length and tree canopy at the end of season were studied for three years (2017-2019). In reproductive stage, fruits number tree-1, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, fruit yield tree-1, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA) and fruit taste index were measured and recorded. Analysis of variance was performed using MSTATC software. Means were compared using Tukey test.
 
Results and Discussion
Combined analysis of variance revealed significant difference among two rootstocks for vegetative characteristics, except internode length and current shoot length. The tree height (1.71 m) of the quince cultivars and genotypes grafted on seedling quince rootstock was taller than quince genotypes grafted on hawthorn rootstock (1.64 m). The hawthorn rootstock induced greater vegetative growth in the quince cultivars and genotypes, rootstock diameter, grafting site diameter, cultivar/genotype diameter, and tree canopy. The fruit tree rootstock can effect transfer of nutrients, carbohydrates and growth regulators between roots and shoots and vegetative growth of the plant (Tatari et al., 2016). Cv. Behta and Isfahan 3 and Isfahan 5 genotypes had higher vegetative growth than other cultivars and genotypes.
Hawthorn rootstock compared to seedling quince rootstock increased fruit number tree-1 by 12.4%, fruit yield tree-1 by 18.5%, fruit pH by 5.6%, and decreased fruit TSS by 4.3% in Isfahan climatic conditions. There was significant differences between quince cultivars and genotypes for fruit number tree-1. The highest fruit number tree-1 was recorded in the cv. Viduja and Isfahan 5 genotype with 159.2 and 155.4, respectively. The highest fruit weight was in the cv. Isfahan and cv. Behta, with 352.2 and 342.2 grams, respectively. The highest fruit yield tree-1 with 30.6 and 31 kg was recoded in cv. Viduja and genotype Isfahan 5, respectively. Total soluble solids (TSS) content varied from 15.4 to 17.9, titrable acidity TA range was 0.5-1.07 and fruit taste index also varied from 14.4 to 36.8 was.
 
References
Abdollahi, H. 2023. A review on cultivation history, genetic resources, selection of cultivars and improvement of tree and fruit characteristics of quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) cultivars in Iran. Seed and Plant Journal, 39, pp.445-493 (in Persian). DOI: 10.22092/spj.2024.365780.1372
Henareh, M. and Tatari, M.  2022. Development of pear orchards using drought tolerant species. Pp. 1-5. In: Proceedings of 5th National Conference on Climate Change and its Impacts on Agriculture and the Environment, Urmia, Iran.
Mohammadi, S. and  Rabiei, V. 2024. Effects of quince A and hawthorn rootstocks on some morphological and pomological properties of Esfahan local quince cultivar. Pomology Research, 8, pp.11-19 (in Persian). DOI: 10.30466/RIP.2021.53275.1153
Tatari, M., Ghasemi, A., and Rezaei, M. 2016. Evaluation of vegetative and reproductive traits of some commercial pear cultivars on quince clonal rootstocks in Isfahan climatical conditions. Seed and Plant Journal, 32, pp.45-62 (in Persian). DOI: 10.22092/SPPJ.2017.110578
 

Keywords

References

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Seed and Plant Journal
Volume 41, Issue 1
April 2025
Pages 70-49

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