Selection of factors for apple fruit quality evaluation

A total of 15 quality parameters were determined for ten apple varieties such as Starkrimson,Qinguan,Jonathan in this study.Quality parameters included fruit weight,soluble solid content(SSC),fruit color,and titratable acidity.The data were analysed using principal component and cluster analysis.Four comprehensive evaluation indices were extracted by principal component analysis with eigenvalue of over 1 and a cumulative contribution of 93.275%.The four indices represented the characteristics of the apple varieties.Four varieties were selected according to the principal component scores,these were Ralls,New Jonagold,Red Gala and Pink Lady.The five most important fruit quality parameters were fruit weight or fruit shape index,fruit firmness,SSC,titratable acidity and fruit colour according to cluster analysis.Principal component and cluster analysis readily separated and prioritized apple fruit quality parameters for evaluation and selection purposes.