Assesment of adaptation potential of black currant cultivars based on growth, productivity and fruit quality

Abstract

In changing environmental conditions, a certain degree of variability is constantly observed in fruit cultivars due to morphological adaptation in the growth, development and adaptation of the plant to different growing conditions. The objective of this study was to assess the adaptation potential of six black currant cultivars (‘Čačanska Crna’, ‘Ben Lomond’, ‘Ben Sarek’, ‘Titania’, ‘Tisel’ and ‘Tiben’) to agroecological conditions of Serbia based on their vegetative and generative potential, morphometric properties of berries and clusters and fruit quality. Vegetative potential (number of shoots per bush shoots length, bush height, width and radius), generative potential (number of flowers per inflorescence, number of berries per bunch, percentage of fruit set) and morphometric properties of berries and clusters (berries, clusters and stalk weight and clusters length) were evaluated in this study. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the identification of sugars and organic acids. The significantly higher values of most parameters of vegetative potential were recorded in the domestic black currant cultivar ‘Čačanska crna’. Despite the high number of flowers and fruits in the cluster, ‘Čačanska Crna’ had significantly lower yields per plant compared to ‘Ben Lomond’ which had the highest yield per bush among tested currant cultivars (4.14 kg). Significantly higher fruit weight was recorded in cultivar ‘Ben Sarek’ (1.57 g) compared to all tested currant cultivars. ‘Titania’ was the cultivar with the highest content of all individual and total sugars (107.80 mg g-1), followed by ‘Čačanska Crna’ while ‘Ben Lomond’ was the cultivar with the highest content of all individual and total acids (53.51 mg g-1), except shikimic acid. The best sugar and acid ratio was recorded in ʽTitaniaʼ and ʽČačanska Crnaʼ. The high productivity and fruit quality of the cultivars ‘Titania’ and ‘Ben Lomond’ indicate good adaptability to local agro-ecological conditions, which together with ‘Čačanska Crna’ make them the most suitable cultivars for cultivation in Serbian agroecological conditions.