CHEMICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF FIVE LOQUAT CULTIVARS

Fruit quality can be evaluated by combining chemical-physical and sensory analyses. In this trial, both instrumental and sensory analyses were carried out on fruit of 5 loquat cultivars (‘Nespolone di Trabia’, ‘Sanfilippara’, ‘Virticchiara’, ‘Marcenò’ and ‘Golden Nugget’), with the aim of assessing their commercial quality. Fruit weight, transversal and longitudinal diameter, total soluble solid content (TSS), and titratable acidity (TA) were measured. In addition, a sensory profile of each cultivar was defined by a trained panel, which generated 16 attributes. The highest fruit weight was found in ‘Golden Nugget’ and ‘Sanfilippara’; the latter exhibited also the highest flesh/seed ratio. Total soluble solid content ranged from 18.0°Brix in ‘Virticchiara’ to 12.6°Brix in ‘Nespolone di Trabia’, whereas titratable acidity was highest in ‘Sanfilippara’. ‘Golden Nugget’ showed the best flesh color whilst ‘Sanfilippara’ had the best peel color. ‘Virticchiara’ had the highest intensity of sweet and the lowest intensity of sour and astringent. ‘Nespolone di Trabia’ showed the highest intensity of sour, while ‘Marcenò’ and ‘Sanfilippara’ showed the highest intensity of astringent. Both instrumental and sensory analyses revealed good quality traits in fruit of ‘Virticchiara’ and ‘Sanfilippara’. The former in terms of taste and TSSC/TA ratio; the latter for appearance. Our results indicated that some local cultivars, often replaced by foreign cultivars, should be reconsidered for the market.