Fruit Quality of Nine Old Apple Cultivars

The quality of the nine old apple cultivars (‘Gelber Bellefleur’, ‘Carević’, ‘Čelenka’, ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’, ‘Paradija’, ‘Paulaner Weinapfel’, ‘Perovnjača’, ‘Winter Banana’ and ‘Zuccalmaggio’) was studied. The cultivars ‘Gelber Bellefleur’, ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’, ‘Paulaner Weinapfel’ and ‘Winter banana’ had the highest fruit mass, and ‘Carević’, ‘Čelenka’, ‘Paradija’ and ‘Zuccalmaggio’ the lowest. The cultivar ‘Gelber Bellefleur’ had the highest fruit height and cultivar ‘Čelenka’ the smallest. The cultivar ‘Perovnjača’ had the highest fruit width, and cultivar ‘Zuccalmaggio’ the lowest. The cultivar ‘Paradija’ had the highest shape index and cultivar ‘Perovnjača’ the smallest. Among the red-coloured cultivars, the cultivars ‘Carević’ and ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’ had significantly higher L and a-values, while the cultivar ‘Čelenka’ had significantly higher Chroma and Hue angles. Hue angle in this cultivar was 72% higher than in ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’ and 51% higher than in ‘Carević’, showing intensive red coloration of this cultivar. Among the yellow-coloured cultivars, ‘Winter Banana’ had the highest L-value. There were no significant differences in a-values among the cultivars ‘Gelber Bellefleur’, ‘Paradija’, and ‘Zuccalmagio’, which had the highest values. The cultivar ‘Paulaner Weinapfel’ had the highest b- and Chroma values, and there were no significant differences among cultivars in Hue angle. The cultivar ‘Zuccalmaggio’ had the highest firmness and ‘Paulaner Weinapfel’ the lowest. The cultivar ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’ had the highest SSC, and ‘Perovnjača’ the smallest. The cultivar ‘Perovnjača’ had the highest TA, and there was a significant difference compared to ‘Čelenka’. The cultivars ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’, ‘Paradija’, ‘Winter Banana’, ‘Paulaner Weinapfel’ and ‘Zuccalmagio’ had the lowest TA and there were no significant differences among them. The cultivar ‘Crvena jesenska rebrača’ had the highest SSC/TA ratio, and ‘Perovnjača’ the lowest. There were no significant differences in seed number per fruit among cultivars. The main disadvantage of these cultivars is the small fruit size, which is an important trait for fresh consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate improving the fruit size in these cultivars by pruning, fertilizing and thinning before their reintroduction into production.