Effect of Foliar Applied Zinc on Yield, Mineral Element Contents and Biochemical Properties of Pear Varieties Grafted to BA-29 Rootstock

In this study, the effects of foliar zinc application on yield, fruit quality characteristics, mineral content, chemical and biochemical properties of three different pear cultivars (akca, santa maria and deveci) under the semi arid ecological conditions of tokat province were investigated. zinc (zn) application did not cause any significant differences on fruit yield, average fruit weight and the average geometric diameter of pear varieties. but the fruit flesh hardness of akca variety was significantly reduced (p<0,05) with the zinc application. while zinc application reduced the titratableacidity (ta) from 0,33 g/100 g to 0,15 g/100 g of akca variety, ta of deveci variety significantly increased from 0,22 g/100 g to 0,28 g/100 g. zinc application significantly (p<0,05) reduced the total phenolics of akca and deveci varieties. similarly, the zinc application significantly (p<0,01) reduced the total antioxidant activity of akca variety according to the radical scavenging activity (abts) test as well as the ferric ions (fe+3) reducing antioxidant power assay (frap) test. foliar zn application significantly (p <0,01) increased the fruit zn concentrations of all varieties, whereas changes in n, p,k, ca, mg, fe, mn and cu concentrations were not significant. the results revealed that foliar zn application has no significant effect on yield and fruit weight of pear cultivars, whereas frap levels were significantly (p<0,01) lowered and zn concentration of fruits were increased (p<0,01).