2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an emerging fruit crop for Texas and other US southern states. Due to its low water usage, high tolerance to drought and salt stresses, and unique bioactive phytochemical profile in fruits, demand for pomegranate is increasing worldwide. However, US farmers are unfamiliar with this specialty crop, and little information is available regarding cultural practices, fertilization requirements, and cultivar selection. A 19 × 19 m² field plot with 22 pomegranate cultivars (‘Al-Sirin-Nar’, ‘Angel Red’, ‘Apseronski’, ‘Arturo Ivey’, ‘Ben Ivey’, ‘Carolina Vernum’, ‘Chiva’, ‘DeAnda’, ‘Early Wonderful’, ‘Kandahar’, ‘Kazake’, ‘Kunduzski’, ‘Larry Ceballos 1’, ‘ML’, ‘Mollar’, ‘Purple Heart’, ‘Russian 8’, ‘Salavatski’, ‘Spanish Sweet’, ‘Surh Anor’, ‘Utah Sweet’, and ‘Wonderful’), four plants per cultivar, was established at Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso in April 2015. Yield and fruit quality (brix, phenolic compound and antioxidant from fruits of 7-year old trees) were determined. Fruit yield harvested in 2017 (2 years old orchard) indicated that ‘Salavatski’ had the highest yield of 7.96 kg per tree, while ‘Early Wonderful’, ‘Kandahar’, ‘Mollar’, and ‘Angel Red’ had the lowest yield with 0.99 to 2.54 kg fruits per tree. The top five cultivars with the highest percentage of fruit sunburn were ‘Angel Red’, ‘Surhanor’, ‘Russian 8’, ‘Kandahar’, and ‘Salvatski’, the top five for the highest percentages of fruit split were ‘Angel Red’, ‘ML’, ‘Early Wonderful’, ‘Ben Ivey’ and ‘Larry Ceballos 1’. To compare the differences in fruit phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity, fruit samples were collected from a seven-year old mature orchard. The top five cultivars with high phenolic contents and antioxidant capacity were ‘Early Wonderful’, ‘DeAnda’, ‘Wonderful’, ‘Larry Ceballos 1’, and ‘Purple Heart’ and top five for Brix were ‘Early Wonderful’, ‘DeAnda’, ‘Ben Ivey’, ‘Salvatski’, and ‘Wonderful’. In summary, ‘DeAnda’, ‘Early Wonderful’, and ‘Wonderful’ are among the top cultivars regarding fruit phytonutrient contents.