Phenotypic and biochemical diversity among peach cultivars grown under environmental conditions of Pothohar (salt range) Pakistan

Background: Peaches are the prominent species among the fruits due to having diverse germplasm around the globe with largest number of commercial genotypes. Pakistan is also rich in various cultivars of peaches that are rarely studied for its genetic diversity. An attempt was, therefore, made to study the phenotypic variation in peach tree and fruit characteristic of 7 desirable cultivars (namely A669, Texas y-455, Florida King, Arctic Fantacy, Spring Creast, Micholea and Swanee). Methods: . All cultivars were grown at the Experimental Peach Block at Barani Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Chakwal, Punjab-Pakistan. Tree traits such as growth habit, leaf characteristics, flower characteristics, morphological and biochemical fruit traits were evaluated by using IBPGR peach descriptors. Results: . Extensive variation was found among the cultivars for various traits, including tree growth (weeping, compact or open whereas), leaf length (9.0 ± 0.8 to 12.0 ± 0.4 cm), leaf width (2.6 ± 0.1 to 3.3 ± 0.2 cm), fruit weight (45.6 ±3.3 to 107 ± 8.8 g) and stone weight (4.3 ± 0.2 to 7.5 ± 0.4 g). Besides, a significant variation among the various cultivars has also been observed regarding, titratable acidity (0.64 ± 0.02 to 1.19 ± 0.04%), °Brix (7.17 ± 0.62 to 11.27 ± 0.21), ripening index (6.02 ± 0.72 to 17.2 ± 0.44), Vitamin C (75.3 ± 15 to 116.1 ± 10.5 mg 100 g -1 ), total sugar (13.52 ± 0.50 to 20.84 ± 1.23%), reducing sugar (5.68 ± 0.11 to 7.25 ± 0.51%), non-reducing sugar (4.12 ± 0.45 to 10.77 ± 0.8%), total phenolics (176.20 ± 7.18 to 317.72 ± 4.66 mg GAE 100 g - 1 ), radical scavenging activity (44.25 ± 0.28 to 78.17 ± 1.43%) and reducing power (0.12 ± 0.1 to 0.22 ± 0.03). Similarly, a significant correlation was noticed between many tested traits.