Flowering and fruiting characteristics of some local and introduced pomegranate cultivars grown in the Riyadh Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

This investigation was carried out at the College of Agriculture'.

King Saud University on six pomegranate {Pimica granatum L.) cultivars, four local namely Ahmer Balady, Hamid Abiod.

Kliob El-Jamil and Al-Madina.

and two introduced from Spain namely Molar anti De Jativa during 1989 and 1990 seasons.

Flowering habits, yield and both physical and chemical properties of the fruits were determined.

Data showed that flowering habits differed from one cultivar to another.

The flowers could be carried on new shoots (terminally or axillary) or on one-year old or two-year old branches.

The percentage of perfect flowers ranged from 18 to 53% in the different cultivars.

Yield differed from one cultivar to another and it ranged from 6.7 to 38.6 kg/tree during both sea- sons.

Physical properties of the fruits (weight, length, diameter and fruit juice) anil chemical properties (total soluble solids [TSS].

acidity, vitamin C and total soluble solids [TSS|/acidity ratio) differed among cultivars.

Seasonal changes in the physical and the chemical properties of the fruits also were studied during fruit growth and ripening.

They all changed from one stage to another with trends, generally, similar in all cultivars.

Gener- ally.

alt pomegranate cultivars studied in this investigation were adapted to Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia.