Effects of gibberellin pastes on fruit quality attributes and storability of niitaka pear

This study evaluated the effects of four different gibberellin-pastes (GAP) on fruit quality and storability of niitaka pear in 2014 and 2015 consecutive years. Pear fruit stalks were treated with dongbu GA gold, nebaekeo, busa, and GA hyeophwa-pastes at 35 and 37 days after full bloom, respectively. After harvest time, the fruits were stored at 0°C for up to 180 days. In both years, fruit weight was 6.2-21.3% higher in GAP-treated fruits than the control fruits at harvest. In 2014 year, flesh firmness was higher in control (70.6 N) than the GAP-treated fruits (54.4-64.6 N) at harvest, but it was not different in all treatments in 2015 year. The titratable acidity (TA) at harvest was also higher in control than the GAP treated fruits in 2014 year. The soluble solids content (SSC) at harvest was slightly lower in control than the GAP treated fruits in both years. During cold storage, flesh firmness was decreased in all treatments, whereas the fruits treated with nebaekeo GAP had the lowest flesh firmness (39.4 N) after 135 days of the storage. TA was a slightly higher in control (0.19%) than the GAP-treated fruits (0.14-0.17%) after 180 days of storage. However, SSC was higher in the fruits treated with dongbu GA gold and GA hyeophwa-pastes than the control fruits during storage. Therefore, GAP-treatments increased fruit weight and SSC than control, but flesh firmness and TA of GAP-treated fruits were reduced after 180 days of the storage.