Quality Analysis and Comprehensive Evaluation of Late Ripening Apples in Shandong
Taking 8 apple varieties harvested in Mengyin county,Shandong Province in November 2023 as experimental materials,various measurement and evaluation methods were used to investigate 12 fundamental quality characteristics including single fruit quality,transverse diameter,and longitudinal diameter,in order to identify apple varieties with superior comprehensive quality and provide reference for the local apple industry's development.The results showed that the findings revealed significant variations in certain basic qualities and color differences among the 8 apple varieties.Correlation analysis demonstrated a clear relationship between each apple's basic quality and color difference quality.Notably,single fruit quality,transverse diameter,longitudinal diameter, moisture content,edible rate,and color difference b index exhibited strong positive correlations.This suggests that these high indexes were more likely to be present simultaneously within the same variety;thus higher 'Weinasihuangjin'varieties might possess these high indexes concurrently. Principal component analysis and comprehensive evaluation results indicated that 'Hanfu ''Hongxing',and 'Yanfu8'were the top-ranked varieties based on their fundamental qualities while'Yanfu8''Hongguoguang',and 'Ruishihongrou'excelled in terms of color quality.