Fruit Mineral Content and Postharvest Quality of Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) as Affected by Soil Lime Stress

Quince is considered a rich source of nutrients and is one of the most common plants cultivated especially for its pharmacological applications. No information exists on the effect of soil lime stress on the nutritional composition of quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) and the postharvest quality of the fruit. In this paper, we studied the effect of different amounts of soil calcium carbonate (CaCO3) equivalent (13%, 14%, 15%, 16, and 18%) on the taste index, PH, and moisture content of the fruit, as well as the content of some mineral elements of several Iranian cultivars ('Viduja,' 'Isfahan,' and 'Behta') or promising genotypes ('NB2,' 'NB4,' and 'KVD2') during cold storage time (harvest day, 60 days, and 120 days in cold storage at 1 +/- 1 degrees C) for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021). Results showed that soil lime stress induced important changes in all the fruit nutrient content and quality parameters studied, according to the cultivar type and the cold storage time. According to the criteria set in the literature for the mineral content of quince, the measured content of calcium and phosphorus was above and potassium was below the criteria for all cultivars/promising genotypes under the five different amounts of CaCO3 equivalent (soil lime) during cold storage in both study years. Also, the concentration of N was generally above the criteria, except for the 'Isfahan' cultivar in 3 months of cold storage grown under 16% CaCO3 equivalent, 'Behta' cultivar at harvest time grown under 13% CaCO3 equivalent, in 2 and 3 months of cold storage grown under 13%, 15%, and 16% CaCO3 equivalent, respectively, in 2021, as well as 'NB4' both in 2020 (in 3 months of cold storage grown under 18% CaCO3 equivalent) and 2021 (at harvest time grown under 14% and 15% and 3 months of cold storage grown under 13%, 14% and 15% CaCO3 equivalent). However, a lower value of Mg was recorded only in 'Viduja' and 'Behta' cultivars (in 3 months of cold storage grown under 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, and 18% CaCO3 equivalent) and 'NB2' (in 3 months of cold storage grown under 18% CaCO3 equivalent) in 2020, as well as 'NB4' (in 3 months of cold storage grown under 18 CaCO3 equivalent) in 2021. In the present study, the differences between the highest and the lowest absorption of all nutrients in the quince cultivars/promising genotypes were higher than 99% in both crop years, except for Zn, with a difference of about 79% in 2020. This information regarding the absorption of the nutritional value of different quince cultivars/promising genotypes could be useful for the storage period of fruits grown under calcareous soils with specific physical and chemical properties