Maturation Date and Postharvest Fruit and Juice Parameters of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Accessions from the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository

Pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit from the USDA–ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Davis, CA, were accessed for determination of postharvest fruit and juice quality; evaluations consisted of 10 cultivars: 'Ambrosia', 'Desertnyi', 'Eversweet', 'Golden Globe', 'Green Globe', 'Haku Botan', 'Loffani', 'Parfianka', 'Phoenicia', and 'Wonderful'.  Fruit were harvested in Autumn 2014 from mature trees monthly from September through November to determine maturity and changes in juice and aril composition over time.  A randomized sample of 10 fresh market quality pomegranates were selected monthly to quantify fruit mass, diameter, and length; and of those fruit, arils were removed from five and juiced to determine differences among cultivars for aril mass and juice composition.  'Desertnyi' and 'Phoenicia' had the highest total soluble solids of all cultivars.  'Haku Botan' had the highest levels of titratable acidity (TA) and 'Ambrosia', 'Green Globe', 'Loffani', 'Eversweet', and 'Golden Globe' had the least TA.  'Wonderful' had the highest level of total phenolics (in gallic acid equivalents) compared to other cultivars and 'Haku Botan' had the highest level of antioxidant activity, as quantified by the DPPH method.  There were also significant differences among cultivars for aril and fruit mass, diameter and length parameters.  The results of this study indicate that pomegranate cultivars vary significantly regarding maturation date and many postharvest quality parameters.