Evaluation of fruit quality of two autochthonous apple cultivars suitable for widespread production

Abstract

Autochthonous apple cultivars are mainly grown in extensive orchards. Due to their resistance to pathogens, frost and summer droughts, they should be considered for more intensive organic and integrated production. Since autochthonous cultivars represent valuable source of genetic variability, they contribute to biodiversity and stability of ecosystems. Nevertheless, fruit of autochthonous cultivars is abundant in health protecting compounds. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the fruit quality of two autochthonous apple cultivars, ʻBobovec’ and ʻKolačara’, in comparison to ʻMorrens Jonagored’, one of the most commercially important cultivar. The obtained results indicate that examined autochthonous cultivars contained higher amount of soluble solids, total acids and total phenolics. Although ’Bobovec’ had the smallest fruit, it exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity and contained the highest concentration of health‐beneficial phenolic compounds.