Traditional pear varietes in the west region of Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

In this article, we present the results of the examination of the morphological, phenological and chemical characteristics of fruits of 9 traditional pear varieties that are typical for the west region of Macedonia (‘Carigradsko avche’, ‘Evropsko avche’, ‘Vodenka’, ‘Sherbetka’, ‘Sinec’, ‘Letna kajkushka’, ‘Trupnjak’, ‘Tiranka’ and ‘Zimska kajkushka’). According to the ripening time, the pears ‘Carigradsko avche’, ‘Evropsko avche’, ‘Sherbetka’, ‘Sinec’ and ‘Letna kajkushka’ are summer pear varieties, the pear ‘Vodenka’ is an autumn pear variety and the pears ‘Trupnjak’, ‘Tiranka’ and ‘Zimska kajkushka’ are winter pear varieties. Statistically significant differences among the examined pear varieties for all fruit characteristics are found. The biggest fruits are characteristic of the pears ‘Vodenka’, ‘Tiranka’ and ‘Trupnjak’. All pear varieties, excluding the pears ‘Evropsko avche’, ‘Vodenka’ and ‘Zimska kajkushka’, have long fruit stalks. Medium to high quantity of seeds are found in the fruits of the pears ‘Letna kajkushka’, ‘Zimska kajkushka’ and ‘Carigradsko avche’. The highest value of soluble dry matter is found in the pear ‘Vodenka’ and ‘Zimska kajkushka’. The highest content of total sugar in the fruits (15 % or more) is detected in the varieties ‘Zimska kajkushka’, ‘Evropsko avche’, ‘Tiranka’ and ‘Vodenka’. The best flavor and juiciest mesocarp is characteristic of the pear ‘Vodenka’.