'Rocha' pear mineral composition relation with quality traits

Orchard's variability is mainly affected by two preharvest factors: cultural practices and climate conditions. In the case of 'Rocha' pear, a native cultivar from Portugal with PDO, it is produced by different producers in the region that although influenced by different factor try to guarantee the expected quality1 . However, even at the same geographic region, dissimilarities between orchards exist. It is unclear whether differences are due to the producer's practices and/or biological responses to the abiotic factors, making the orchard management difficult. Although this appears to be a bewildering complex of variables, Bramlage (1993) suggested that mineral composition at harvest accounts for most fruit variability between orchards. It is known that nutrients required are in the soil and supply by fertigation and foliar application3 In this way, fruit mineral characterization at harvest can give some information on how orchard factors interact with nutrients and consequently explain some physicochemical and ripening differences4 . The objective of this study was to investigate differences in mineral composition of three 'Rocha' pear orchards from one of the most representative PDO locations and relate it with quality and ripening traits.