DETERMINING THE HARVEST DATE OF 'ABBE FETEL' AND 'KIEFFER' PEAR IN THE LAKE DISTRICT OF TURKEY

Turkey is the sixth largest producer of pears in the world. The production, consumption and export of pear and allocation of new orchards increased in recent years. The determination of the optimum harvest date (OHD) of the pear cultivars grown considerably affects the endurance of the products in the market after harvesting and in store. In this study, it is aimed to determine the harvesting criteria to be used for pears and OHD for ‘Abbe Fetel’ and ‘Kieffer’ pear cultivars, for which the production in Turkey of has risen in recent years. For this purpose, approximate harvest dates were estimated by the number of days after full blossom. Fruits were monitored and analyzed for fruit width, length, weight, starch index, flesh firmness, fruit skin color, seed colour, respiration rate, ethylene production and pH, total soluble solid (TSS) and titrable acidity (TA) during maturity indexing from 4 weeks before to four weeks after anticipated harvest, i.e., for eight weeks. The study was carried out for two years. In conclusion, respiration rate, fruit skin color and flesh firmness were the best criteria to be used for determining the OHD of pears in Turkey. For ‘Abbe Fetel’ and ‘Kieffer’, the respiration rate was 7.4-6.2 and 8.2-6.4 ml CO₂ kg^-1 h^-1), flesh firmness was 56.6-60.3 and 78.1-71.0 N, L* values were; 65.5-64.3 and 63.7-64.7, a* values were; -16,4 -17.7 and -15,8 -16.8, b* values were; 40.8-41.3 and 41-43, respectively at the optimum harvest date.