Qualidade dos pêssegos da região da Beira Interior no ciclo 2015

In Portugal, peach production is mainly located in Beira Interior, representing 45% of the national area, corresponding to 1630 ha. The commercialization of peaches occurs between June to September and this offer is based on a wide range of cultivars. For each cultivar besides the harvest date, the fruits have different characteristics which are influenced by cultural techniques and by the soil and climate conditions. The Beira Interior region has predominantly light-textured soils and high number of light hours these conditions are favourable for stone fruit production, especially cherry and peach, which are recognized in Portugal for their quality. This study aims to characterize the fruits of the different peach cultivars produced in Beira Interior region during the 2015 season. Fruits samples from de all the cultivars produced in four local peach growers were analized. In total were analysed 1208 fruit, 47 samples corresponding to 33 different cultivars. Fruit weight firmness and total solids soluble content (SSC) was evaluated in each fruits. The titrable acidity (RTA) was evaluated for groups of 10 peaches. Based on the characteristics evaluated it has been possible to group the cultivars into three groups according the season of maturation, namely, early cultivars (9 cultivars), season cultivars (17 cultivars), and late cultivars (7 cultivars). The season cultivars have a firmness of 5.1±1.4 kg/0.5 cm2, an SSC 13.2±1.7°Brix and 5.7±2.8 g. of malic acid L‑1 and the late cultivars group has higher values of firmness, IR index and acidity, respectively 6.4±1.4 kg/0.5 cm2, 14.5±1.8°Brix and 8.6±1.5 g. of malic acid L‑1.