FRUIT QUALITY AND BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF BLACKCURRANT CULTIVARS AND HYBRIDS IN LATVIA

Purpose of the study, carried in 2008 and 2009, was to evaluate quality and chemical composition of fruits of the selected lines from the local breeding program and introduced foreign cultivars. Over 100 blackcurrant accessions of the genetic resources collection of the Latvia Institute of Fruit Growing were included in this test. The contents of total soluble solids, ascorbic acid and total anthocyanins were included. The berry weight, contents of total soluble solids, ascorbic acid and total anthocyanins were determined. The berry flavour was also sensory evaluated in scores 1-10. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used for determination of blackcurrant accessions with the highest contents of the tested bioactive compounds. Introduced cultivars ‘Navla’, ‘Rosenthals Langtraubige’ and Latvian breeding lines 8704-1, I a 58, 8709-42, and E170 had high contents of total anthocyanins, ascorbic acid and soluble solids and can be recommended for further breeding as well as for larger tests for suitability for commercial growing. Berries of the introduced cultivars ‘Ben Alder’, ‘Chernii Kentavr’, ‘Iyunskaya’, ‘Black Dawn’, ‘Ceres’, ‘Ben More’, ‘Laimiai’ and Latvian breeding lines II b 14, I a 47, II a 62, No. 4, and seedling Keep 39 contained high contents of ascorbic acid and anthocyanins and can also be useful in the blackcurrant breeding programmes. The cultivars ‘Izyumnaya’, ‘Selechenskaya’, ‘Selechenskaya-2’, ‘Poezija’, ‘Guliver’ and more had good flavour and large berries, but not high contents of the measured bioactive components; they can be recommended for larger tests for suitability for commercial growing of dessert berries.